In his text The Republic, Plato takes on the monumental task of elucidating the theme of justice through Socrates' discourse with his listeners. Socrates' fidelity to arguments based on reason and not rhetoric adds to the challenge of this task. He thus avoids, and even criticizes, the type of arguments and assertions made by poets that serve primarily to manipulate their audiences. To perhaps alleviate the difficulty of his task, Socrates applies several strategies to discuss justice: a lie, an allegory, and a myth. I will therefore aim to dissect each of these strategies, as well as to magnify the light they shed on the theme of justice. Through this unpacking, I also hope to show a potential inconsistency in Socrates' critique of poetry and fiction as rhetoric, and thus deviating from the path of reason that he values ​​and claims to follow. Ultimately, however, Socrates adopts an argument of moderation, abandoning the possibility of a just city and recognizing that injustice will always exist. Socrates therefore identifies limits in human nature which call for this abandonment, but which also call for the application of strategies which will appeal to human nature and, at the very least, move the city a little further towards justice. to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Plato's first explanatory strategy is the noble lie, which arises from his discussion with Glaucon regarding the appointment of the guardians and rulers of the city just. Hesitantly, Socrates asks Glaucon if they could "invent somehow one of those lies that arise in times of need..., a noble lie to persuade, at best, even the leaders, but if not them, the rest. of the city” (Bloom, 93). Such a white lie, which Socrates said would require "a lot of persuasion", "would be good for getting (the city's citizens) to care more about the city and each other", and thus support the just city (Bloom, 93, 94). In application therefore, the strategy would consist of assuring all citizens that they are brothers born of the same mother earth, but that "the god, in fashioning (those) who are competent to govern, has mixed gold with their birth” (Bloom, 94). Likewise, silver was mixed at the birth of auxiliaries, while farmers and other artisans received iron and bronze. Although bronze generally begets bronze and gold, this process involves a certain degree of randomness. Socrates, however, insists that everyone must perform a vital task characteristic of their metallic composition, writing that each child's parents must "attribute the appropriate value to his nature" and direct their child toward an appropriate profession. The function of the Noble Lie It is then to promote and maintain a social order in which those capable of guardianship are the leaders and those destined for craftsmanship do not impractically seek positions higher than their nature. As Allan Bloom writes in his interpretive essay, "the noble lie was intended to endear the city to warriors and artisans, to ensure that the governed would obey the rulers, and, in particular, to prevent rulers from abusing their office . » (Bloom, 367). Likewise, “the noble lie is designed to give men reason to resist, in the name of the common good, their powerful desires” (Bloom, 368). Bloom identifies this "powerful desire" as the explanation for Socrates' application of a noble lie, writing: "the nature of men's desires would make it impossible for a rational teaching to be a teachingpublic” (Bloom, 367). So Socrates sees reason in telling the lie since it will account for the character of men, which makes completely rational teaching impractical. Socrates certainly does not underestimate this “character” since he applies a second strategy, the Image of the Cave, which will also shed light on justice while further commenting on the population's inattention to rational teaching. The Image of the Cave, which arises from Socrates' divided line, is an allegory used to illustrate the path of the soul. As Bloom interprets it, "the divided line described the progression of the soul from its lowest level of cognition, imagination, to confidence, thought and finally intellection, its highest level" (Bloom, 403). Likewise, the philosopher is the one who progresses towards intellection, or in the allegory of the cave, towards the light of the sun. However, to be liberated, the philosopher must reorient his soul, and thus reject the idea that education is the result of introducing "into the soul a knowledge which is not in it, as if ...we put sight into blind eyes." (Bloom, 197). Socrates therefore argues that "the power is in the soul of each and that the instrument with which each learns... must be diverted from that which is being born with the whole soul until it is able to bear to watch this.” what is and the brightest part of what is” (Bloom, 197). The illumination that comes from this liberation does not, however, initiate an easy life for the new philosopher according to Socrates. Instead, Socrates tells Glaucon, "our job as founders... is to compel the better natures to go to the study which we previously said is the greatest, to see the good and to climb this climb; and...not allow them...to remain there" (Bloom, 198). The freed must then take responsibility for the common good, return to the cave, learn its effectiveness, then free the others who are thrown under the charm of the images and rhetoric of the poets When Glaucon receives Socrates' description of the Image however, and the resulting call for the freed philosopher to return to the cave to help others, he protests. Glaucon, perhaps demonstrating his own "powerful desire", would thus prefer to remain in the enlightened world of good, or the sun in the allegory of the cave, but Socrates thus insists that Glaucon must return to. the cave in the name of the common good, and thus resist the attraction of a tyrannical government Perhaps not convinced by the effectiveness of his argument towards Glaucon, Socrates also presents him with the Myth of Er, the story of. 'a soldier who died in war, but came back to life twelve days later with a precious memory of the rebirth process. The story arises from a discussion between Glaucon and Socrates about the immortality of the soul and the importance of the soul in philosophical discourse. As Bloom interprets it, "This discussion then serves two purposes: to lead non-philosophical man to concern himself with justice out of fear of what will happen to him in another world, and to lead philosophical men to the study of justice. soul” (Bloom, 435). ). Thus, there is also an intention here to arouse fear in Glaucon, as well as in other listeners of Socrates, of the path of injustice. The appeal to such fear is then reinforced in the myth of Er, which Socrates describes for Glaucon. For individuals like Glaucon, the myth of Er presents two messages. The first message emphasizes the need to avoid injustice with faithful consistency and prudence, since those who commit injustice will ultimately receive judgment and penalty. As Socrates maintains: "For all the unjust acts they had committed againstwhoever and for all the men to whom they had done injustice, they had paid the price for each in turn, ten times for each” (Bloom, 298). Socrates' second message emphasizes the importance of education given and provided by a philosopher. Thus everyone must seek “knowledge to distinguish the good and the bad life, and thus everywhere and always choose the best among those that are possible” (Bloom, 301). So, when the fate of the soul presents itself, “it will always know how to choose life between such extremes and flee from excesses in both directions in this life, so that as much as possible, and in all the next life. For this is how a human being becomes happiest” (Bloom, 301). Socrates' second message then is to not only promote philosophical education, but also to promote moderation in individuals through such education. The question then arises as to whether Socrates' application of the Noble Lie, the Image of the Cave and the Myth of Er, the most reasonable approach to elucidate justice? Socrates seems to tolerate poetry and rhetoric only if their pursuit is virtuous, and indeed Socrates' pursuit in The Republic is. virtuous. The Noble Lie, however, remains a lie. Likewise, the Athenians don't actually live in a cave, it's more of an allegory. And finally, The Myth of Er seeks to convince its audience of the importance of living a righteous life. by instilling fear, rather than applying reason. The Noble Lie, for example, seeks to persuade citizens to be obedient to the city and their brethren by claiming that everyone at birth mixed a combination of metals corresponding to different levels of the hierarchy. it will exist in the right city. Such a lie is therefore comparable to the opinions spread by poets and allegorized in the Image of the Cave. As Bloom interprets it: “These views are not a true reflection of nature but are adapted to meet the needs of the city. They are designed to make a man love his city” (Bloom, 404). The same could be said of the Noble Lie. In The Picture of the Cave, in turn, "Socrates frames his account of the good in such a way as to appeal to Glaucon's interest and passion", rather than avoiding emotive language and appeals to passion . The myth of Er, finally, again evokes fear as a means of persuading Glaucon of the importance of the path of justice. In one passage of his description of the myth, Socrates speaks of "fierce men, with fiery air throughout, standing there and watching the sound, who seized some and led them away, who bound Ardiaeus and others 'others' hands, feet and heads, threw them to the ground and tore their skins off' (Bloom, 299). It is clear from these arguments that Socrates does not fully respond to his own appeal to reason. Bloom, however, offers a somewhat less reasonable explanation of Socrates' application of these strategies. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Socrates' justification for such strategies, as interpreted by Bloom, speaks to the limits of human nature. As Bloom notes: “At the beginning of the dialogue, Glaucon and Adeimantus set the highest standards for political justice. » Socrates “thus leads them first to the fulfillment of their desires, then beyond, to an accomplishment which does not depend on the transformation of human nature”. In other words, “the struggle for a perfectly just city places unreasonable and despotic demands on ordinary men, and it abuses and abuses the best men” (Bloom, 410). Socrates therefore notes these gaps and sees the need to apply strategies so that his explanations of justice and, 303).