Plato was born in Athens 2,400 years ago and is widely recognised as having been
the founder of philosophy.
In order to convey what he believed philosophy
could do for us, he made up a now-famous metaphor about a cave.
He compared human beings who had not learnt
how to philosophise to people living deep in the side of a mountain, in a cave illuminated
only by the dim light of flickering torches. In such gloom, they regularly mistake one
thing for another: halloumi for chicken, spam for ham.
The task of philosophy is - quite literally
- illumination. It is to help guide us to more meaningful and fulfilled lives.
For Plato, we are so often in the dark about our lives because we exist under the sway
of DOXA - the Ancient Greek term for “public opinion”. Doxa is a tangle
of prejudice and ill-thought through impulses.
It is the task of philosophy to straighten out how we think
and to be more precise in our ideas.
One of the things Plato thought a lot about was love.
He came to the view that we would not fall in love if we were not in certain psychological
ways 'incomplete'. We are drawn to people we
dimly sense can compensate us for certain of our deficiencies of character, who can
make us whole. Love grows when we identify in
another person qualities we need more of in ourselves in order to become better, more
rounded individuals.
So the shy will often feel a distinct attraction towards the confident.
The carefree towards the thoughtful. The mild cheese towards the astringent pickle.
The sweet chocolate towards the tart berries.
In his theories, Plato accords an important role to beauty. It would have been easy for
him to dismiss beautiful things as merely superficial.
Many philosophers have. But he believed that
beauty is an embodiment at a physical level of what we would, at the psychological plane,
call goodness. When we say that this miniature Yorkshire pudding is 'beautiful', it is because we are
sensing the promise of what might be admirable psychological qualities too. If it turned
into a person, we'd like who the miniature Yorkshire pudding was: it would be optimistic, open to experience,
a little cynical but generous.
Beautiful things therefore have a hugely important function. They invite us to evolve in their
direction, to become as they are. Beauty can, for Plato, educate our souls. It follows that
for Plato ugly things are serious matters too, for they parade dangerous
and damaged characteristics in front of us. We need to stay away from them, for they can
otherwise encourage us to be like they are.
Athenian society was very focused on the rich, like the louche aristocrat Alcibiades, and
sports celebrities, like the boxer Milo of Croton.
Plato wasn’t impressed: it really matters
who we admire, for celebrities influence our outlook, ideas and conduct. And bad heroes
give glamour to flaws of character.
Plato therefore wanted to give Athens new celebrities, replacing the current crop with
ideally wise and good people he called Guardians: models for everyone’s good development.
These people would be distinguished by their record of public service, their modesty and
simple habits, their dislike of the limelight and their wide and deep experience.
Plato was a noted anti-democrat
He simply didn't believe everyone should be allowed to vote. But he wasn't in favour of
a voting elite based on money or class. He believed that people should be allowed to
vote only if they could demonstrate that they had exercised thought and judgement.
He was an aristocrat of the mind.
He was also an idealist, someone who looks at the way things are now, and tries to imagine
how they could be better one day. We still sometimes use the term ‘Platonic Ideal’
in his honour.
This is a Dolmades
This is a platonic Dolmades.
This is an egg.
This is a platonic egg.
In Plato's perfect society, described in his book The Republic,
It wouldn't just be boxers, merchants and chefs who would be
venerated, but primarily philosophers, people devoted to self-knowledge, wisdom and kindness.
As he put it, 'Society will only be put right
when philosophers become kings; or kings philosophers.'
We continue to agree.