Plato and His Key Concepts


   We all know that Socrates was the teacher of Plato. And when Socrates died, many of his followers and friends ran away from Athens. He went to places like Sicily and Southern Italy. He made some political and scholarly friends there. Then, in 385 BCE, he came back to Athens and founded Academy, a place where he would give his lectures to his disciples. 

   At present, whatever we know about Socrates is what we got from the writings of the historian, Xenophon, and the philosopher, Plato. Plato put his critical ideas in the mouth of Socrates in his dialogues. (Thirty-six dialogues are attributed to Plato. Republic is one of them.)



Republic

   When we talk about literature and literary criticism, Plato's Republic inevitably pops up in our minds. Not only because he opinioned for kicking out poets from an ideal state, but also because he gave us some crucial concepts on which later critics would build their works. 

   Republic is a dialogue between Adeimantus and Glaucon. But Socrates carries on the main discussion. The dialogue begins with the question of what justice is, and Eventually, it takes a turn to what type of texts the guardians (or the philosopher-kings) should read and if there should be any poets and poetry in an ideal state. 


Theory of Forms and Mimesis

    For Plato, everything in this physical world of becoming is just a shadowy reflection of the unseen world of being. The world of being or Heaven is perfect; it is unchanging, eternal, and non-physical. On the contrary, our world, or the world of becoming, is not eternal; it's a world of change, death, and decay. Everything in this world is an imitation of that world of being. 

    (This is Plato's theory of forms. His belief was that in the Heaven, there is an ideal form of everything that we see in this physical/material world. To elaborate this point, Plato famously gives the example of a chair. He argues that in this physical world, every chair is recognizable as chairs because there is a common ideal form of chair that exists in the Heaven. Or, to put it in another way, the physical chairs are made by imitating that heavenly ideal chair.)

    In the case of poetry, Plato believes that it is not just an imitation. It's an imitation of an imitation. Poetry is twice removed from that Original that exists in the world of being. In other words, poetry is twice removed from reality. This is the philosophical and metaphysical reason behind Plato's banishing the poets from his ideal state. Because Plato wants his leaders or guardians to know the essence of truth. But what if these leaders spent their time reading poetry! They will be reading something that is twice removed from the truth. 

    According to Plato, poetry appeals to the weaker and inferior sides of the psyche. (In Greek, psyche means both mind and soul.) The psyche is divided up into a rational part and an irrational part. And there is also a meditating part. (Freud's concept of Id, Ego, and superego is influenced by Plato.) However, Plato says that poetry being fanciful appeals to the irrational part of the psyche. Poetry is not like math or philosophy. Poetry is not rational. (fun fact: these two sides of the psyche are also called the Apollonian and Dionysian sides of our brain.) 

   Long story short: the irrational part of our soul is the one that is wild and ecstatic. And this side of our soul is unreliable and unstable. 

   Hence, Plato allows two types of poetry in his ideal state: 

      1. Hymns to God

      2. poetry that praises state heroes 


For Plato, these are the two types that appeal to our rational side of the psyche. 




Allegory of Cave

   While discussing education, Plato tells Glaucon and Ademantus to imagine a cave where there are some prisoners chained in such a way so that they can't look anywhere else other than looking at the wall in front of them. Behind them, there is a fire, and behind the fire, there is another wall behind which people pass by, and whatever they carry on their shoulders cast a shadow on the wall at which the imprisoned men are looking because there is also a fire behind those walking people. (just like the puppet shows). They cannot see anything that happens behind them. so, they believe that everything is happening in front of them on the wall.


Plato's Cave Allegory
Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
(Original image link)
 

    Plato suggests that anyone who has never seen or experienced the real would consider the shadow to be the real. Only a few can escape from that cave. And this is not an easy task. Only a true philosopher can do that. If someone escapes and comes out of the cave, first he will experience exposure to the sunlight. It will probably blind him. and he will return to the cave.  And if someone keeps calm and waits patiently, the eyes would adjust according to the situation. And he will be able to look at everything. Probably he would also decide to go back to the cave and try to convince others to come outside. But the men in the cave would infer from the first man's blindness that going outside is dangerous. And Plato concludes that the prisoners (if they're able) won't even mind killing anyone who tries to drag them out of the cave.



Ion

   Ion, a rhapsode, a professional reciter of Homer and certain other poets of Greece, runs into Socrates. In a private conversation, Socrates tries to understand whether this rhapsode performs effortlessly because of his skill and mastery over the subject or it is because of any divine gift. Socrates argues that Ion performs well not because of his knowledge. He does so because he is divinely possessed while performing. Socrates uses the analogy of a magnet here. Just like magnets can hold iron rings one after another, rhapsodes and even poets like Homer are held by a magnet called God. So, in a way, they are 'magnetized' by the divine beings.


The metaphor of a magnet in Plato's Ion

                                       

In other words, neither the rhapsodes nor the poets have any mastery or knowledge of anything: their works are outcomes of the gods working through them.

   






Bibliography:


   1. Markos, Louise. "Literary Theory and Criticism", https://literariness.org/theorylectures/. Accessed 23 January 2022.


  2. Meinwald, Constance C.. "Plato". Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 May. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Plato. Accessed 22 January 2022.


 3. Cooper, M..Plato: Complete Works. Hackett Publishing Company, 1997.

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