History of Political Thought Readings
Republic Book 6; 488a–489d) - Ship of State
The attitudes of cities towards real philosophers is drawn by a comparison with a ship. According
to the one that makes the comparison, philosophers are not treated with respect in cities. People
considered philosophers to be useless, according to the one speaking you cannot blame the
philosophers for their useless, but you have to blame those who make no use of them.
The Ship of State is a famous and oft-cited metaphor put forth by Plato in Book VI of the Republic
(488a–489d). It links the governance of a city-state to the command of a naval vessel and
ultimately argues that the only men fit to be captain of this ship are philosopher kings, benevolent
men with absolute power who have access to the Form of the Good. (they have the knowledge
about the state so you trust them).
Plato on Justice
We all have 3 elements = the rational element, the irrational/desiring element, and the spirit
element. These three elements have different rankings in our body (or society), so when one
takes over the other, this is injustice. Just like in a city -
The soul is like a city.
We cannot be two things at once (moving and not moving for example). Harmony is required on
the city and in the body for justice to prevail.
Republic Book 7 – Allegory of the Cave
The cave theory is based on how Plato perceives how people educated themselves and others.
The prisoners are the people, they see the shadows on the wall cast by the fire. The people take
the shadows of manufactured objects as truth. When you leave the cave, you have to acclimatize
and get used to the lights. However, when you get back to the cave, you have to get used to the
darkness again.
Mass direct Enlightenment is deadly (preaching the truth is risky). But indirect enlightenment is
possible--through education understood as an orientation or preparation toward the good.
‘Anyone with any sense, would remember that people’s eyesight can be impaired in two
different ways, and for two quite different reasons’:
1. change from light to darkness.
2. change from darkness to light.
Conclusion we cannot avoid:
-> Education is not what some people proclaim it to be. What they say, is that they are able to put
knowledge into souls where none was before. Like putting sight into eyes which were blind.
,Mass direct Enlightenment is deadly (preaching the truth is risky. But indirect enlightenment is
possible--through education understood as an orientation or preparation toward the good.
Rational thought is a special and important virtue.
According to Plato, philosophers are the only ones that can stay out of the cave and are therefore
most suited to steer the city. This law aims for a collective good.
Plato, as Socrates describe a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of
their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall from objects
passing in front of a fire behind them, and give names to these shadows. The shadows are the
prisoners' reality. Socrates explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the
cave and comes to the understanding that the shadows on the wall are not reality at all, for he can
perceive the true form of reality rather than the manufactured reality that is the shadows seen by
the prisoners. The inmates of this place do not even desire to leave their prison, for they know no
better life. The prisoners manage to break their bonds one day, and discover that their reality was
not what they thought it was. They discovered the sun, which Plato uses as an analogy for the fire
that man cannot see behind. Like the fire that cast light on the walls of the cave, the human
condition is forever bound to the impressions that are received through the senses. Even if these
interpretations (or intuitions) are an absurd misrepresentation of reality, we cannot somehow break
free from the bonds of our human condition—we cannot free ourselves from phenomenal state just
as the prisoners could not free themselves from their chains. If, however, we were to miraculously
escape our bondage, we would find a world that we could not understand—the sun is
incomprehensible for someone who has never seen it. In other words, we would encounter another
"realm", a place incomprehensible because, theoretically, it is the source of a higher reality than
the one we have always known; it is the realm of pure Form, pure fact.
Socrates remarks that this allegory can be paired with previous writings, namely the analogy of
the sun and the analogy of the divided line.
Al-Farabi p.60-76
How nations are distinguished from one another: by natural temperaments and natural states of
character and by language. The differences are caused by different positions on earth, the
difference in the fixed stars facing them, the difference in vapors that arise from that part of the
earth, and thus, the difference in water, from this follows the difference in plants etc… This leads
to a difference in temperaments between nations
The virtuous city : Happiness (Sa’ada) is unqualified good. Whatever is useful for obtaining
happiness and gaining it is alos good, not for its own sake but for the sake of it’s usefulness with
respect to happiness. Whatever impedes from happiness is unqualified evil.
In general this part talks about the strive for happiness, what the meaning of evil is (non-
happiness)
, Different kinds of rulers or guidelines to happiness
Intention behind the existence of human beings is obtaining happiness. Step one: need for concept
of happiness, Step two: identify steps that lead to it, step 3: perform these steps
→ humans need guidance in this process, need help with achieving happiness
Humans rule others and are ruled by others themselves.
First ruler: is not ruled by another human being, characterized through a joined soul + active
intellect.
→ “King in truth”
→ he can seize on the definitions of things & actions (active intelect) and then directs these
productively towards happiness (passive intelect), he governs over happy, virtuous, good citizen
→ produces virtuous nations, cities = their whole system reflects King/first ruler and every new
king rules according to the way of life of the first ruler
Secondary ruler: ruled by one human being while ruling another
- Attaining happiness: every inhabitant of a city has a role he is entrusted with by means of
personal capabilities → leads to developing good traits of the soul
- Example: trait of being good at writing: the more one actually writes, the more he delights
his soul → happiness
Types of happiness vary in quantity and quality
- You strive to dispense of the material when achieving happiness
- After life: after passing away citizens bodies are nullified, soul is delivered to the rest of
the relative group → ever increasing the after-life happiness of each group member
- Result: as time passes true ultimate happiness is achieved
- Actions don’t have to be only directed towards happiness, one can also acquire traits of the
soul that are bad
- Example: actions of writing bad =bad overall writing
- Those with sick souls take pleasure in bad traits → after death they are just nullified
- Happiness also means having to remove evil (voluntary and natural evil) from cities and
nations
- Result/goal: nullify evil and bring good into existence
Ranking of inhabitants: first ruler ranks group & humans in these groups according to their
merit
1. Raking of service
2. Ranking of rulership
- Humans form concept of principles that fit with the virtuous city → most people are
not capable of this, need rulership
→ they need an image they can identify with
→ religions may differ as long as they all confer to this given picture of happiness
Most people who pursue happiness pursue what is imagined not what they form a concept
of, highly dependent on nature/capabilities
