one of the founders of political philosophy and student of socrates
plato
influence on christian, conservative and communist thought
plato
had his own academy and was a teacher of aristotle
plato
political works of plato
the republic
the statesmen
the laws
(p) platonism believes in
essentialism and that knowledge is a virtue
(p) belief in existence of objective thruth of the essence of things, this essence existed in the “realm of perfect ideas”
essentialism
(p) the objective good (perfect ideas) exists, and knowledge of this good is good
knowledge is virtue
(p) in democracy or oligarchy rulers are often
ignorat
(p) true political knowledge is not based on study of politics but…
the study of ideal state/democracy
(p) politics are often chaotic because of…
factional disagreement, infighting, power struggle, etc
(p) core problem is conflict between those who
have property and those who dont, rich and poor
(p) radical solution to inequality
eliminate both positions by redistribution and create more economic equality
(p) what is the goal of plato?
not to improve the broken system, the goal is to reach the perfect system, he says ideal state exists and is universal
(p) the ideal state follows this logic
(p) talent plays a role, 3 prime talents:
production, guarding and governing
(p) 3 classes
craftsman, officials and philosopher-ruler
(p) all are equally important based on different kinds of knowledge, but craftsman should not be concerned with politics
semi-elitist
(p) society is when
everyone is realizing their best potential
(p) when each person is given a place in society where they can contribute maximally, so society functions best
justice
giving everybody a place
inclusion
if you contribute, society rewards
reciprocity
(p) radical measures against corruption
leaders can have no private property and cant have a family
(p) first objective of the state
education
(p) the republic was
radical and utopian