Monday, August 10, 2009

Sorry Plato..I can't say I agree


So here I am......
3rd year of college and we have to study Western Political Thought where Plato features first. Our Greek philosopher's contributions to Political Science have been irreplacable. When I read his theories, I was amazed. How could a man possibly think so thoroughly? About every detail and every possible argument against it? No doubt Plato is a philosophical genius and he rightly deserves the place he has.
So far, I have gone through his Theory of Justice and Education. I can't say that I agree with all his points but I admire his thinking. I admire his thought process but not exactly his thoughts.
Somehow I feel that his Ideal State was harsh in nature. For him the Ideal State would be where each man did what he was best at doing. I believe in that but believing that every human can be compartmentalised as Philosopher Kings(Rulers), Warriors and the producing class with only wisdom, courage and temperance respectively dominating their minds is going a bit too far. Believing that only a philosopher king has the right to decide what the classes under him would do is rather unjust and unfair. To expect that the Rulers would only think of gaining knowledge, the warriors of dignity and honor and the producing class only of appetite is certainly erroneous. Man is a complete being with many sides and wanting only one part to dominate all the others stunts human growth and intelligence. It leads to a one sided development of the mind and body at the cost of other needs. A warrior may also desire knowledge and so may the producing class for that matter. What right does the State have to deprive man of his desires?
But more than any other theory, his theory of Communism of Wives revolted me. How could such a great thinker go to such an extent for excellence that he deprives children of a normal childhood? To say that human beings have some needs and the philosopher kings could freely go to any woman and the child produced should be given over to the State because nothing should hinder the king from gaining more knowledge, is rather cold and repulsive. I blurted out in class that it was disgusting in the middle of the lecture..hehe. Don't you think it is? In the quest for knowledge for the Philosopher Kings, Plato goes to the extreme.
But there are other theories which I have yet to study and I am looking forward to it. I agree to some of his theories and he is a genius in terms of philosophical thinking and social morality. But there are many aspects of these theories to which I simply can't agree.

3 comments:

TheChicGeek said...

Hi Deboshree :)

I'm on vacation by you visited so I popped by to check out your blog. Wow...I love it! I am going to come back for more visits when I return. How fortunate you are to be young and studying great ideas and forming your own. You write very well and your blog is beautiful!

Have a Happy Day!

Kelly aka TheChicGeek

A New England Girl said...

Loving your blog!
I'm glad you stopped by mine, and I am thrilled that you enjoyed it. :)

I haven't studied Plato much, but I was intrigued to read your concise report on your likes and dislikes about his thoughts. It makes me want to research him more.

To answer your question that you posted on my blog...
Tagging is super simple! :) When you get an award and/or a specific task [usually like an award]... you create a post doing exactly as it tells you to do. At the end of your post, you "pass on the award" to the bloggers you want to get to know better or that you think are worthy of an award. You link to their blogs on your post, let them know you've done so and then thye usually follow up by posting the same award or task on their blog, continuing the cycle! :) It's fun and can be quite interesting at times.

Hope you're doing well! I will be back to further explore and read your blog when I have more time. :)

Alicia

DEVOTED said...

Hey!
Lovely writeup.
I think even I should get around to reading some stuff that you talk abt!
how come not seen you too much? been waiting for u to come on to my blog as well!
Hope to see you soon there!

love,
vrinda