"Unless...the philosophers rule as kings or those now called kings and chiefs genuinely and adequately philosophize, and political power and philosophy coincide in the same place, while the many natures now making their way to either apart from the other are by necessity excluded, there is no rest from ills for the cities my dear Glaucon, nor I think for humankind, nor will the regime we have now described in speech ever come forth from nature, insofar as possible, and see the light of the … [Read more...] about Is Socrates Being Ironic in The Republic?
Plato
A Sweet and Virtuous Soul
Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,The bridal of the earth and sky;The dew shall weep thy fall to-night,For thou must die.Sweet rose, whose hue angry and braveBids the rash gazer wipe his eye;Thy root is ever in its grave,And thou must die.Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses,A box where sweets compacted lie;My music shows ye have your closes,And all must die.Only a sweet and virtuous soul,Like season'd timber, never gives;But though the whole world turn to coal,Then chiefly lives. … [Read more...] about A Sweet and Virtuous Soul
Becoming a Link in a Chain
You will never write anything that is of even remotely the same caliber as what Shakespeare or Austen or Dickens wrote. You just are not that good. Is that an insult?I also will never write even a single paragraph which could bear comparison to anything in Shakespeare. Is your instinct to tell me I shouldn’t think that about myself? One of the strange byproducts of all of us being raised and told we can be whatever we want to be is that we get a warped idea of greatness. Pick a random kid … [Read more...] about Becoming a Link in a Chain
Do You Have a Soul?
“O my friends, he said, if the soul is really immortal, what care should be taken of her, not only in respect of the portion of time which is called life, but of eternity! And the danger of neglecting her from this point of view does indeed appear to be awful.” That is Socrates talking in Phaedo, Plato’s account of the last conversation of Socrates’ life. If the soul is immortal, then surely Socrates is right. Indeed, if the soul is immortal, it is hard to imagine how that could be … [Read more...] about Do You Have a Soul?
How to be a Good Friend
What is Friendship? That is one of those questions which I instinctively answer, “It’s obvious,” but whenever I read something about the matter, I think the essay I just read misses the point. Consider Plato’s Lysis, his dialogue on Friendship. Not a very good work if one evaluates a work of philosophy on the criterion of providing an answer which is even worth considering. Nothing here on that front. A decent work if one uses the criterion of whether it has the … [Read more...] about How to be a Good Friend
Leadership in The Republic
As a manual on leadership, Plato’s The Republic is a very useful thought experiment. But, it is a useful guide to leadership? First off, The Republic a mammothly sprawling book. It is a conversation which wanders all over the place, constantly circling back to the general theme. But even there, it isn’t entirely clear what the general theme actually is. Justice? Good Government? Education? Moral Character? In previous readings, I had read the book as an … [Read more...] about Leadership in The Republic