Module 5: Plato

1. Module 5: Plato Philosophy 240: Introductory Ethics Online CCBC Author: Daniel G. Jenkins, MA

2. This module is meant to accompany “Plato’s Ethics: An Overview” in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, available free on the web at: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-ethics/

3. Module Goals: • After completing readings, presentations, discussions, and coursework for this module, you will be able to: • Identify and explain core aspects of Platonic Ethics • Apply Platonic Ethics in moral decision-making • Analyze the usefulness and critique features of Platonic Ethics • Synthesize Platonic Ethics with other theories in the academic study of Ethics

4. What do classical ethical theories try to do, and what should you be paying attention to as you study them? All ethical theories attempt to answer two questions: 1) what is the good life? 2) what ought we do? Each philosopher’s claim about the good life is a meta-ethical claim. Their claims about what we ought do are their ethical claims. Pay attention to their reasoning. Does the evidence support the claim? Do premises relate logically to one another and to their conclusions? Do they meet the burden of proof?

5. About Plato • Plato (424-328 BCE*) Athens, Greece. • One of the first philosophers. • Student of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle. • Helped lay the foundations of western culture. • Plato was also a mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens. • (*About BCE/CE notation )

6. Plato’s Writing Plato wrote his philosophy in the form of “dialogues” The dialogues read like plays, and employ the Socratic Method, or Dialectic The Socratic Method involves skillful questioning to help pupils think for themselves and examine possible inconsistencies in their own thoughts

7. Plato or Socrates? • Socrates himself never wrote anything down. All we know of him comes from Plato’s writings. • Scholars have distinguished between Socrates’ and Plato’s philosophies • The character of Socrates is sometimes used as a mouthpiece for Plato’s ideas in the dialogues, and here we can be confident that we are studying Plato’s Ethics.

8. Plato’s Ethics is Founded on his Metaphysics • Remember that metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies what exists, what is real, and what human nature is. • Plato advances the notion of the “Tripartite Soul,” in which we are all thought to be made of three parts: • Appetite – wants and attraction • Spirit – passion and energy • Reason – the wise part that can control the other two aspects of ourselves

9. The Chariot of the Self • Plato envisions the self as a chariot led by two horses. One horse is appetite, the other is spirit, and the charioteer is Reason.

10. What is driving your life? • If we make a modern analogy, we can envision the self as a car, and appetite, spirit, or reason can be driving. • What is driving your life? Reason? Appetite? Passion? Which one would you like to drive?

11. Evil is due to lack of knowledge • Plato thought that if we know what is right, we will never do wrong. • Plato thought that we should, therefore, be concerned with gaining knowledge of the good. • Plato says that there is a truth about morality; you can have your opinion but you can be wrong – only the experts know for sure what the right answer is about morality.

12. Consult the experts • When you are sick, you go to the doctor • When your car breaks down, you go to the mechanic • Plato insists that morality is an area of expertise just as medicine and car repair are areas of expertise. Unless you are trained, don’t be too sure about your own opinions. Trust the experts, Plato says. • Plato asserts that specially trained philosophers are experts in morality

13. Can anyone become an expert in morality? • Plato says that not everyone has the requisite intellectual ability to develop knowledge of the good. • Just as most people cannot acquire knowledge of advanced mathematics, most people will not be able to acquire knowledge of morality, Plato says. • Only a select few can become morality experts.

14. Logical Necessity and Sufficiency in Platonic Ethics • Having knowledge is not a necessary condition for behaving morally, simply a sufficient one. • We could lead the good life by accident, but this is not ordinarily a successful strategy • Those unable to acquire knowledge of the good can lead the good life through developing virtuous habits of behavior. • Virtuous habits are developed by mimicking or emulating those who do have knowledge of the good life.

15. Two paths to the good life • So, Plato thinks there are two paths to leading the good life: • the development of mental powers/knowledge through study • developing virtuous habits of behavior

16. Good habits can overcome gaps in knowledge • You might better understand the role of habit in Plato’s Ethics if you consider the computer you are using right now. • You understand how to use some programs, but you probably do not understand the programming language that underlies their operation. • You have developed successful habits regarding your computer usage without really understanding why they are successful. • Plato would have us understand the same thing in Ethics – develop good habits by emulating the behavior of the morality expert and you do not have to understand the good in order to behave morally.

17. On the authority of those with knowledge of the good • People who have gained knowledge of the good life have discovered the truth about morality. • Morality is objective; it is not a matter of opinion or preference. • A course of action or inaction is morally right or wrong absolutely and independently of anyone’s opinion or preference regarding it. • Plato argues that there is one and only one good life for all people to lead. • You can disagree with those who have knowledge, but you cannot make a genuine argument against them – they have knowledge, not a mere opinion.

18. On the value of censorship • In Plato’s Republic, the dialogue in which he outlines the ideal state, he argues for censorship in the ideal society. • Young people, and people with limited capacity to acquire knowledge, should not be exposed to certain sorts of experiences if they are to develop virtuous habits and lead a good life. • Ordinary people lack the ability to determine whether something is good or not, so they should not be confused by immoral messages.

19. The Philosopher-King • Plato also argues that especially gifted intellects must learn to be rulers of the ideal society – the Philosopher-Kings. • Understanding the nature of the good life, Philosopher-Kings would always act morally and never act evilly. • The Philosopher-Kings would exhibit the behavior that people without knowledge would mimic in order to develop virtuous habits. • Philosopher-Kings are the ideal rulers.

20. Society as the self on a large scale • Plato thought that the ideal society should be structured in the same way as the ideal self – with the business and working classes (appetite), and the artists and soldiers (spirit) ruled over by the Philosopher-King (reason).

21. Plato’s Influence on Christianity • When Christianity spread to the Roman empire, it came to be understood in terms of the Platonic worldview. • Some theologians have postulated that the absolute character of edicts like “thou shalt not steal” and “thou shalt not commit murder” are absolute and objective in the Platonic sense. • Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, with it’s distinction between perfect and imperfect worlds, may have influenced the Christian conceptualization of “the kingdom of heaven.”

22. Plato Rejects the Divine Command Theory • Plato himself believed that moral standards are superior even to God • For Plato, goodness exists outside of God and God is good if and only if he acts in accordance with that standard.

23. Criticism of Plato • There are three main components of Platonic Ethics: • If a person has knowledge of the good life, he/she will never act immorally • Some people will be unable to gain knowledge of the good, and must develop virtuous habits of behavior by emulating people who do have knowledge • Morality is absolute. There is one and only one good life for everyone to lead. • We will consider each of these claims. Let’s begin with the first – does this make sense to you? Is it possible that someone can know something is wrong and do it anyway? • Take a moment to consider the question before advancing to the next slide.

24. I knowledge a fail-safe? • We can think of situations in which people appear to know better, but in which they do wrong anyway. • Has Plato hit upon a matter of logical necessity or is he making a psychological judgment? • Is there a difference between knowing an act is prohibited and understanding that it is wrong? • Does more knowledge always make a decision easier? • Plato’s position becomes more defensible if by “knowledge of the good” he means understanding how we harm others when we do wrong, and/or knowing how our own lives could be better if we did not do wrong.

25. The Price of Expertise • Is it at all problematic that Plato thinks most people are simply incapable of acquiring knowledge of the good and must model their behavior after those that do have knowledge? • What do we give up if we relinquish responsibility for our own ethical decision-making? • Think a moment about these questions before advancing to the next slide.

26. Problems With Emulation • Labels like “moral” and “immoral” only apply when acts are voluntary, made from will. • If most people are simply emulating behaviors with no idea why they are good behaviors, the good life really is only available to a few people. • The moral authority can be abused. • We cannot distinguish between claims made by different moral authorities.

27. Moral Agency • Plato denies us our moral agency. • We think that almost everyone is capable of distinguishing right from wrong and that almost everyone ought to be rewarded and punished for their actions. • Children and the Mentally Ill are two exceptions to our understanding or moral agency. • Plato is being an intellectual elitist.

28. American Ambivalence Towards Intellectuals • English-speaking cultures do not look fondly upon intellectual elitism, and at times our culture vilifies intellectuals. • Most comic book villains are doctors. • In literature and movies, scientists are represented as evil, crazy, megalomaniacal, or unfit to rule. • Al Gore and John Kerry were derided for their intellectual aspects. • Democracy opposes intellectual authority.

29. Plato in Politics • Plato failed to demonstrate the truthfulness of his idea that if you know what is right, you will never do wrong. • Dionysius became a tyrant • Confidence can be the enemy of reason • Plato doesn’t give us a tool to evaluate the claims of alleged experts • You are probably not the Philosopher-King

30. Absolutism in Plato’s Ethics • Plato believes morality is absolute • Does that mean that it is moral to absolutely and always do some things and not to do others? • Should we never kill? What about killing in defense of your property, or your country, or yourself? • Should we never lie? What about lying to save lives? • Take a moment to think about these questions before advancing to the next slide.

31. Oskar Schindler • Oskar Schindler lied routinely and effectively to rescue Jews from certain death in the concentration camps. • Does this mean Plato would characterize Schindler’s actions as morally wrong? Would you?

32. Being charitable with Plato • Maybe there is an absolute method of addressing and determining how we ought behave in any given circumstance, and not an absolute list of what we should and should not do, always and without exception, in any circumstance. • Still, Plato does not tell us what the method is, only that those with superior intellectual ability can determine what it is.

33. What is Attractive About Platonic Ethics? • Plato suggests that if we had more information, if we had been more carefully trained, we could find the answer to any moral quandary. • Plato suggests that there is a discoverable answer. • But it is unclear exactly what Plato meant by knowledge of the good life, or if more knowledge renders the right decision more evident, or what he meant by moral absolutism, or if his insistence that most people lack the intellectual prowess necessary to understand the good life subjects his theory to irremediable intellectual elitism. • The last contentious assertion in Plato’s Ethics, the assumption that there is one and only one good life for everyone, is refuted by the Ethics of Aristotle, and will be addressed in Module 6.

34. Module 5 Summary • Plato wrote his philosophy in the form of dialogues, and utilized the Dialectic or Socratic Method. • Plato’s Ethics is related to his notion of the tripartite soul, which characterizes human beings as having three parts: appetite, spirit and reason. Plato said reason should rule the other two parts of a person, just as reason should rule society.

35. Summary, continued • Plato thinks there are two paths to leading the good life: • the development of mental powers/knowledge through study • developing virtuous habits of behavior • If you know what is right, you will never do wrong. Virtuous habits are important for those who cannot acquire knowledge of the good. • The ideal society is ruled over by the Philosopher-King, a benevolent dictator. • Morality is absolute. There is one and only one good life for everyone to lead.

36. Summary, continued • If Plato is making a psychological judgment about how people behave, he is simply incorrect. We can know what is right and still do wrong. • If Plato means that knowledge of the good, as a matter of necessity, changes people’s behavior, his position becomes more defensible. • If Plato means that knowledge of the good is understanding how we harm others when we do wrong, or understanding how our own lives would be better if we do not do wrong, his position becomes more defensible.

37. Summary, continued • Plato’s assertion that most people are unable to acquire knowledge of the good and must emulate those who have knowledge conflicts with our notion of moral agency, is intellectually elitist, gives us no framework to distinguish between competing authorities, and generates a situation in which authority can be easily abused. • It is unclear what is meant by “absolute” morality. If there are some things we should never do, no matter what, then Plato’s theory is of dubious quality. If Plato means there is an absolute method of decision-making, his theory becomes more defensible. However, he doesn’t tell us what that method is.

38. Congratulations! • You have completed Module 5: Plato. Once you have also done the textbook reading for this module, complete the module coursework found under the assignment and discussion tabs in WebCT. • If the subject interests you further, consult: Plato. Complete Works. Cooper, J. M. & Hutchinson, D. S. (eds.). Indianapolis: Hackett, 1997