What is life? How do we know we’re living? Why should we live and how should we live? Everyone has subconsciously thought about these important questions. But why? It is because without philosophy, nothing is truth and there is no truth. Philosophy is all around us and our entire lives are based around philosophy. In The Republic, Plato argues and debates how to better the Athenian government by all fulfilling our roles in society, by seeking spiritual truth, and by illustrating his claims to his readers.
In The Republic, Plato wrestles with how we should properly live our lives. He debates the ethics of a just society with another athenian and they both go back and forth building the perfect democracy. Plato claims that a just society is …show more content…
Plato proved both his metaphysical and ethical claims by illustrating worlds in which these claims were true. To illustrate his ethical claim, he described a societal structure in which everyone has a role. Everything in this society, including marriages, are planned out. On the other hand, he illustrates his metaphysical claim by telling the story of the allegory of the cave. In his plotted society, people are either guardians or regular citizens. The guardians are responsible for protecting the state, and are divided into two subclasses: the rulers and soldiers. Rulers or kings are the philosophers, and they create laws for the rest of Athens. The soldiers defend the state, but also preserve order inside the state and serve as an example for the rest of the nation. The allegory of the cave describes the ignorance the athenian citizens live in because they rely solely on their senses and prior knowledge rather than search for the spiritual answers. He goes on to talk about how slowly but surely, they will be able to see the true nature of things if they just try: “At first, it would be shadows that he could most easily make out, then he’d move on to the reflections of people and so on in water, and later he’d be able to see the actual things themselves” (516 a). In both of his illustrations, he truly showed his readers how his spiritually based plan for a just society realistically would thrive if put into
In The Republic, Plato wrestles with how we should properly live our lives. He debates the ethics of a just society with another athenian and they both go back and forth building the perfect democracy. Plato claims that a just society is …show more content…
Plato proved both his metaphysical and ethical claims by illustrating worlds in which these claims were true. To illustrate his ethical claim, he described a societal structure in which everyone has a role. Everything in this society, including marriages, are planned out. On the other hand, he illustrates his metaphysical claim by telling the story of the allegory of the cave. In his plotted society, people are either guardians or regular citizens. The guardians are responsible for protecting the state, and are divided into two subclasses: the rulers and soldiers. Rulers or kings are the philosophers, and they create laws for the rest of Athens. The soldiers defend the state, but also preserve order inside the state and serve as an example for the rest of the nation. The allegory of the cave describes the ignorance the athenian citizens live in because they rely solely on their senses and prior knowledge rather than search for the spiritual answers. He goes on to talk about how slowly but surely, they will be able to see the true nature of things if they just try: “At first, it would be shadows that he could most easily make out, then he’d move on to the reflections of people and so on in water, and later he’d be able to see the actual things themselves” (516 a). In both of his illustrations, he truly showed his readers how his spiritually based plan for a just society realistically would thrive if put into