Political Philosophy
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Plato428BC-347BC.pptxPlato 428BC-347BC
Was an Athenian philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece, founder of the Platonist school of thought, and the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world.
Plato’s aim of politics
Forms are intelligible unchanging objects (ex. Woman – this woman)
Unlike particular objects that are accessible to the senses only, forms are accessible to the mind only and not to the senses.
The chief of all forms is the Form of the Good.
Collectively, forms constitute the realm of Being.
Collectively objects (material) consist the realm of Becoming
It is the utmost responsibility of a Philosopher to know the best form of The Good for a society and to apply it.
Kallipolis – the beautiful city – would be the aim.
In his book “The Republic” Plato tells the story of a city and of the Philosopher-Kings who ruled it.
The aim of Politics
We cannot achieve happiness except in a just city.
In order to achieve happiness, each person has their soul on a different level of the spectrum (The theory of human souls):
Appetitive Soul (satisfies physical desires)
Spirited Soul (satisfies social desires of honor and approval) Rational soul (satisfies the desire for truth and the overall good)
Not all people desire the satisfaction of the same soul this is why Plato splits the society into:
Producers (Appetitive)
Guardians (Spirited)
Rational (Rulers)
The Principle of Specialization
Before he can prove that justice is a good thing, Plato must first state what justice is. Instead of defining justice as a set of behavioral norms (as the traditional Greek thinkers did) Plato identifies justice as structural: political justice resides in the structure of the city; individual justice resides in the structure of the soul.
The just structure of the city is summed up by the principle of specialization: each member of society must play the role for which his nature best suits him and not meddle in any other business. A man whose nature suits him to farming must farm and do nothing else; a man whose nature best suits him to building objects out of wood must be a carpenter and not bother with any other sort of work. Plato believes that this is the only way to ensure that each job is done as well as possible.
The principle of specialization keeps the farmer from carpentering, and the carpenter from farming. More important, it keeps both the farmer and the carpenter from becoming warriors and rulers. The principle of specialization separates society into three classes: the class of producers (including farmers, craftsmen, doctors, etc.), the class of warriors, and the class of rulers.
Relativists Absolutists
Everything is changing there is no absolute Real truth is out there! We just have to look f
Truth. Everything depends on the situation for it! (the dialectic method for example)
It is in.
Basic necessities of society
Happiness vs Money
Amount of money
Level of Happiness
