PLATO’s MYTH OF

1. PLATO’s MYTHOF A The DYT Production ER

2. The Republic of Plato I went down yesterday to the Piraeus with Glaucon the son of Ariston, that I might offer up my prayers to the goddess; and also because I wanted to see how they would celebrate the festival, which was a new thing. I was delighted with the procession of the inhabitants; but that of the Thracians was equally, if not more, beautiful. When we had finished our prayers and viewed the spectacle, we turned toward the city; and at that instant Polemarchus, son of Cephalus, caught sight of us from a distance as we were starting on our way home, and told his servant to run and bid us wait for him. The servant took hold of me by the cloak behind, and said: Polemarchus desires you to wait. So

3. Kατέβην χθὲς εἰς Πειραιᾶ I went down to the Piraeus yesterday with Glaukon, son of Ariston, to make my prayers to the Goddess and wanting to see how they would hold her feast, this being the first time it was held.

4. The Republic of Plato • Ten-volume dialogue on to rule a just city • Fraught with ETHICAL LEADERSHIP • Insanely influential from the very time its writing • Dialogue of Socrates and two of Plato’s brothers • No detail is omitted: • What is justice? What is the best city? • What is the best form of constitution? • What qualifies leaders to be leaders? • What is reality? • Why should people want to be just? • Why all these questions? So

5. Piraeus in 5th Century BC

6. Piraeus in 5th Century BC

7. Pre-Socratic Philosophy • Philosophia = the love of wisdom = 600 BC • Thales (water), Anaximander (apeiron), Anaximedes (air) • Pythagorean school = mathematically harmonious life • Heraclitus = logos, flux; earth, water, air, fire • Democritus = atomic theory • Diogenes (contemporary) = Cynic • Philosophers congregated in schools and talked rubbish • Common people did not care for them So

8. Socrates in the Clouds So

9. Socrates and Plato

10. Socrates (470-399 BC) • Father, Sophroniscus, was a sculptor • Mother, Phaenarete, was a midwife • Intermittently employed stone mason • ENGAGED CITIZENSHIP: fought in army • ENGAGED CITIZENSHIP: served in assembly • Applied the elenchos or “Socratic Method” • More eristic than constructive • Annoyed Athenians of all sides • Aristophanes wrote “The Clouds” about him • Tried for atheism and corrupting youth, 399 BC • Drank hemlock and died

11. Plato (428-347 BC) • Follower of Socrates – his obvious major influence • Old question: how much is Socrates, and how much Plato? • Other influences: Pythagoras, Heraclitus • Founder of the Academy – first Western higher education • Teacher of Aristotle • Traveled to Italy, Sicily, Cyrene and Ancient Egypt • Returned to Athens around 40 and began writing • Traveled to Syracuse under Dionysius I, makes friends with his brother Dion, but gets sold into slavery • Dionysius II comes to power; Dion calls for Plato’s help but even Plato can’t make a philosopher king out of him. • Dionysius II boiled in blood in Inferno 12 for his violence.

12. The Republic as a katabasis • The first word in the book is Κατέβην • The trip from Athens to Piraeus is about six miles along the Long Walls, with a long slope down to the Piraeus • Piraeus is a seaport, and therefore much more rough and rowdy than Athens • Socrates is going down to the real people to tackle a real issue: what is justice, and what is the best city? • Katabasis imagery in the Allegory of the Cave • Katabasis imagery in the Myth of Er

13. Socratic Method, The • Almost like midwifery – working out the TRVTH • Mother, Phaenarete, was a midwife • Ask simple questions of self-appointed experts • Make the experts look like monkeys • Supposedly, TRVTH is the result. • Supposedly, Socrates was wisest man in Greece • Only because he knew he knew nothing • Most dialogues really didn’t solve much • The “solutions” are mostly Plato’s addition • Not so in the Republic, however

14. Socratic Method, The Citizen: Socrates, you are really annoying. Socrates: Interesting argument. Can you tell me what is 'annoying'? Citizen: The way you ask all these stupid questions, that's annoying. Socrates: Would you say that a fly buzzing by your ear is also annoying? Citizen: Yes, I would say that is annoying. Socrates: But you define annoyance as asking questions, and a fly doesn't ask questions, so do you really know what annoyance is? Citizen: I guess I don't know how to explain it. Socrates: If you don't know what annoyance really is well enough to explain it, how can you be certain, then, that I am annoying? Citizen: I am going to scream

15. Principles of Plato’s Republic • Justice is best considered in the context of a city • Four main virtues: wisdom, courage, justice, temperance • No private property, poetry, or fiction • “Guardian” class of men and women serve at age 50 • Ruled over by a philosopher-king • Object = bring the city and its people to the Good • Allegory of the Cave • Timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, democracy lead to tyranny • Tyranny was an old Greek tradition, • Tyranny was the opposite of philosophical life style • How to motivate citizens to avoid tyranny?

16. Allegory • Metaphor = uses a image, an object, or a story to represent a complex or obscure idea • “Life is like a box of chocolates.” – F. Gump • Allegory is an extended metaphor, usually a story, in which characters can stand for complex or obscure ideas. • Can also be associated with the “parable” • Parable of the Good Shepherd (Luke15.3-7) explains God’s love for all creation • Plato’s Allegory of the Cave (Republic 7) • O Brother, Where Art Thou?

17. Allegory of the Cave

18. Music Break

19. Plato, Republic 10: Grand Finale • Boot out the poets! Even Homer! • The poetic education is the worst education • It focuses on the “interesting” and the “spectacular” • It’s as bad as that stuff on the back wall of the Cave • The emotions caused by poetry are dangerous • Citizens might feel that life is like poetry • (or like in the movies, or books, or reality shows) • The ideal city is not a bunch of KARDASHIANS • Citizens need to learn about life as it really is • Therefore, citizens need philosophical education • Citizens also need motivation to lead moral lives.

20. The Katabasis of Er • Er is a soldier who dies in battle • Bodies of dead are collected for burning after 10 days • Er’s body has not decomposed!!!! • Two days later, Er comes back to life and tells his story • Learns of the afterlife and of reincarnation • Visits the USED CAR LOT OF SOULS • Acquires Celestial Cultural Competence • Comes back to life to report on his visions • Practices Cosmic Community Engagement

21. Judgement Process • At death, the body perishes in the usual fashion • Souls come to a place between heaven and earth • They are judged on their life’s deeds and misdeeds • Held strictly accountable for individual actions • Good souls go to heaven for 1000 years • Bad souls go beneath earth for 1000 years • Much more complex than the Homeric version • Homeric version: body greater than soul • Platonic version: soul greater than body • Er also sees souls returning from their 1000 years • Heaven dwellers happy, earth dwellers beaten up

22. Schematically Speaking

23. THE USED CAR LOT O’SOULS • The body is mortal and the soul is immortal • Souls are judged on their life’s deeds and misdeeds • Souls are rewarded or punished for 1000 years • Supposedly this gives time for reflection • Newly returned souls must select next lives • Souls select from physical appearances of bodies • Souls can choose human or animal lives • Once a life has been selected, that’s it • The soul must live its selected life as best it can • The soul bears FULL responsibility for its actions • No griping, no whining: deal with it

24. Hooptius Maximus

25. THE USED CAR LOT O’SOULS • The returned souls see a wide range of lives • But they can only judge upon the bodies they see • What have they learned over the last 1000 years? • First chooser picks a TYRANT: bad career move • Fun to be a living tyrant: a dead one, not so much • Orpheus picks a swan (didn’t like women) • Agamemnon chooses to be an eegull • Odysseus chooses to be just a regular dude • After choosing, the souls proceed to river Lethe • Then they get reborn… good luck!

26. Cosmic Cultural Competence • As ever, evil is punished and justice rewarded • People are bad because they choose to be bad • People are ____ because they choose to be ____ • Only philosophy can teach people to live ethically • Obviously, an immortal soul should live ethically • Get it right for enough lives and maybe win the jackpot • Not spelled out at all • Still a major eschatological breakthrough • Body = transitory, soul = immortal • Bound to have consequences for philosophy • Bound to have consequences for religion

27. Eschatological impact of the Republic • Soul more important than body, not other way around • People should want to be just because justice = good • The Myth of Er is meant to compel just behavior • Granted, most people preferred religious spirituality • Still, influential on Greek and Roman political thought • Influential on the katabasis in Vergil’s Aeneid (25 BC) • Influential on the katabasis in Dante’s Inferno (1320 AD) • Influential on Sir Thomas More’s Utopia (1616 AD)

28. Utopia by Sir Thomas More - 1616

29. Utopia - 1616 • Written by Sir Thomas More (later St. Thomas More) 1616 • Translated into English 1551 • Executed 1535 for opposing marriage to Anne Boleyn • Name from ou + topia = Greek for “No Place” • Became a synonym for a perfect society (vs. dystopia) • Actually more of a satire on contemporary society • Draws heavily (and parodically) on Plato’s Republic • No lawyers, both sexes educated, religious freedom • Atheists are tolerated but never trusted • Atheists only go by their own principles, not God’s