Writing Term Papers - Plato

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Plato was born around the year 428 BC into an established Athenian household with a rich history of political connections. The original name of Plato was Aristocles, but in his school days received the nickname Plato meaning “broad” because of his broad shoulders. In keeping with his family heritage, Plato was destined for the political life. But the Peloponnesian War, which began a couple of years before he was born and continued well after he was twenty; led to the decline of the Athenian Empire. A rabid conservative religious movement that led to the execution of Plato’s mentor, Socrates, followed the war. Together these events forever altered the course of Plato’s life.

It is difficult to determine the precise chain of events that led Plato to the intricate web of beliefs that unify metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and politics into a single inquiry. The establishment of a government by Sparta and the events that followed dramatically affected the direction of his thinking. The execution of Socrates must have weighted heavily on Plato, who then turned away from politics, somewhat jaded by the unjust behavior of the Thirty, disappointed by the follies of the democracy.

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Plato left Attica and spent the next twelve years in travel and study. After 399 BC Plato began to write extensively. The consensus divides Plato’s writings into three groups. The first group generally known as the “Socratic” dialogues was probably written between the years 399 to 387. In these dialogues Plato appears to remain relatively close to what the historical Socrates advocated and taught.

Plato founded the “Academy” nearly a mile outside the city walls of Athens and named it after the name of Attic hero “Academus”. It seems that over the next twenty-six years Plato’s philosophical speculation become more profound and his dramatic talents more refined. This period is called Plato’s middle or transitional period. In the last thirteen years of his life Plato have written some dialogues in which Socrates plays a relatively minor role and the metaphysical speculation of the “middle” dialogue is meticulously scrutinized. Plato died in 347 BC, leaving the Academy to Speusippus, his sister’s son. The Academy served as the Emperor Justinian in 529 CE closed the model for institutions of higher learning until it, almost one thousand years later.

Why Plato was so controversial
Plato’s Republic was a very controversial work. His work also contained serious differences from Aristotle’s politics, which was a mainstay of Humanism. Plato in his republic abolished the concept of a family in an ideal city. He said that all the women would be the common wives of all the men; the children too should be held in common so that no parent will be able to recognize his children and no child should know his parents. Obviously, then, Plato’s Republic, although in many ways a very Humanist Work, also stands in opposition to a number of key Christian beliefs.

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The function of persuasion in Plato’s politics has been a controversial matter in relation with the polemic about the totalitarian character of Plato’s philosophy. Plato has been accused of using the preambles as irrational and rhetorical means for imposing his totalitarian ideas. However, a closer examination of the means Plato uses for persuading and the consideration of the whole work show that the Magnesian State is far from fulfilling the ideal expressed in the physician metaphor.

Persuasion plays a role not only in the legislation, but also in the laws as a whole. The Athenian has to convince the Doric partners and the potential reader as well. Persuasion in this double sense plays an important role in every Platonic dialogue, and especially in the Republic. There it is the basis the constitution, in spite of the radical measures Socrates proposes in it. It has been pointed out that Plato tries to surpass the mono-logical character of the written logos.

The analysis of the philosophical principles that are the basis of the Magnesian State has been one of the most controversial issues in the last two hundred years of research on the text. The order and hierarchy proposed in the Laws for the traditional virtues, and Andréa has the lowest position in the hierarchy, while justice is the essential virtue for the political life. It has been said that this order is the conclusion of an evolution, which is the consequence of the difficulties Plato has found for incorporating courage to his system of virtues. Courage does not appear as an absolute good and the goal of the political organization, but it is included as an instrument that, subordinated to justice, is necessary for maintaining the political order and the rule of the mind. Plato’s ambiguity to the virtue of courage has some similarity to his position with respect to one of the most valued among traditional virtues in Greek society, namely equity, which strangely enough, plays practically no role in the Laws. In Laws, equity is mentioned in relation to four areas: economics, politics, and marriage of heiresses and penology.

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Plato transforms a traditionally private virtue into a public one. In his treatment of equity Plato follows the same pattern as in the rest of the Magnesian laws and institutions. He superficially adopts the concepts and language that are familiar to any Greek, but he fills them with a new, Platonic content. The significance of virtue to classical political philosophy is generally recognized, since it sees happiness, as the goal of the social community and happiness requires virtue. For him the characteristic restriction of citizenship to the real capable of sharing the ultimate goal of the state originates in the statesman and is decisively carried forward in the Laws, where those engaged in trade and manufacture are excluded from citizenship. It is manifest that in the Laws Plato decidedly re-evaluated the concept of a democratic state and of the democratic individual.

Plato’s Republic provides for rule by a largely hereditary guardian class. The society is structured in such a way that everyone stays within narrowly defined roles, making it somewhat impossible for anyone other than the guardians to rule. Plato’s educational system is very different. Most noticeably, it differs from class to class and is not as open to inter-class mobility. Education in some aspects of the Platonic system is aimed at producing perfect soldiers and perfect leaders. Hence it can be said that Plato’s ideal state and his thinking about the family system is entirely against our political system and the basic beliefs of Christianity; that is why Plato is much more controversial than any other thinker of his time.
 

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Plato’s Impact on Rhetorical Theory
Rhetoric is arguably one of the oldest disciplines in the world. Its earliest antecedent can be found in the sophist tradition of Classical Greece. Two of the earliest sophists, Tisias and Corax, made a comfortable living traveling around Hellenic Europe teaching people the finer points of oratory.

The Sophistic tradition was harshly criticized by major philosophers of the time (Socrates, Plato etc.) as an unintellectual and immoral profession. According to Plato rhetoric does not aim at the greater good, and in some circumstances rhetoric appeals can be highly unethical. Plato goes so far as to compare rhetoric to a “knack” like cookery, a false art that does not care about the greater good of the audience. Even today, the term “rhetoric” is sometimes used as a projective sense to refer to hollow, pompous, or bombastic language. In Plato’s view, rhetoricians (i.e. sophists) were more concerned with appearances rather than substance.

Although Plato certainly felt that, a clear expression was important, sophists thought that rhetoric played a much greater role in human affairs.
Plato’s impact on rhetoric theory is still can be seen and felt. Contemporary rhetorical studies respond to the intellectual challenge implicit in Plato’s critique. Instead of indicating rhetoric and chastising rhetoricians, rhetorical studies teaches students to examine persuasive events from a critical prospective, providing an analytical framework that leads to a greater appreciation and understanding of the impact of the persuasive event. By examining the potential power of communication, rhetorical studies empower students to be effective communicators and thoughtful critics.
 

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Common Usage of Plato’s Rhetoric theory
Plato took many of his ideas about Rhetoric from his mentor, Socrates. Therefore many of his writings included Socrates as the main Character presenting the point of view that Plato wanted to convey. Plato felt that rhetoric is most often used for selfish reasons. According to Plato the conduct of life is not teachable and the sophists view is just the opposite. In his most famous work “Republic”, which primarily deals with justice, he presented the idea that there are three parts to the soul being reason, appetite and spirit. They felt that this qualified rhetoric as being immoral. Plato, although thought that rhetoric is immoral, used rhetoric to convince people of factual knowledge.

Nowadays, his rhetoric theory, i.e. to convince people of factual knowledge, is used in variety of different functions. Persuasion or social influence, socialization, social support, information processing, conflicts, decision-making, and entertainment are a few of the more widely used functions of rhetoric.

Works Cited

Hooker, Richard, "Plato" 6-6-1999 http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/GREECE/PLATO.HTM

Zeyl, Donald J., "Plato's Timaeus", (trans.) Jan 01 2002 http://omega.cohums.ohio-state.edu/hyper-lists/bmcr-l/2001/0308.html

Suber, Peter, "Review of Jeff Mason, Philosophical Rhetoric", Philosophy and Rhetoric, 136-141 (23,2,1990) http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/writing/mason.htm

Bhandari, D. R. “Plato's Concept Of Justice: An Analysis” J.N.V. Universityhttp://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Anci/AnciBhan.htm

Mawr, Bryn, “'Plato's Socrates”, Classical Review http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/bmcr/bmcr-9503-west-platos

Kingsley, Emily Perl, “The Invention of the Opposite” 20 Feb 1997 http://www.uta.edu/HyperNews/get/invent/7.html


 

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