Essay Example on Ancient Wisdom: Plato & Socrates: Pioneers of Experiential Learning

During the ancient era, Plato was recognized as the most significant thinker. Even when he was young, he was familiar with the political life, most probably because of the influence of his father, Ariston. Plato contributed to the philosophies of experiential learning in that in his dialogues, he crafted informative and interesting philosophies to the current thinking and practice. Also, Socrates was a paragon of philosophy in that in valuing truth above all, he was a lover of wisdom. Socrates was a veteran and also Plato's teacher although Socrates is known through Plato's dialogues. Plato's intellectual pursuits come from The Republic implementing what educators call holistic education. Moreover, Apology draws another positive form of influence, which Plato explains that democracy is both stimulating and potentially challenging (Bloom 70). The tenacity of this paper is to sketch how the story of Socrates relates to Plato's Apology and Republic.

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Given the foregoing, Plato's purpose in the Republic, particularly Socrates' central concern in his conversation with Glaucon and Adeimantus is to explain justice by illustrating the analogy of justice in the human soul (Stonehouse 2). Plato's alarm in re-describing justice as moderation is based on ethical and political dialogue. Plato introduces evidence from Apology (defense) for the harsh critique that was used to levy against poetry in the figuring of the ideal city (Bloom 70). Whilst it is a reversal of the original thought, Socrates' statement about the quarrel is universally adopted as evidence of philosophy's hostility towards poetry, but perhaps this is philosophy defending itself. It is difficult to discover the first conflict or violence just as Socrates declares its existence.

Socrates tries to define justice by enumerating actions that justice itself forbids. For instance, when a question is presented to him, he is unable to define justice as happiness without begging the question. The way he accepts Glaucon and Adeimantus challenge makes it difficult for him to take justice for granted. Socrates proceeds as if justice is unsettled through discussion of civic justice and civic happiness. However, he argues that a just city is happier than the unjust city. He draws one of the abiding puzzles from the republic where he says that the same account for justice must apply to cities and persons (Stonehouse 2). For this reason, Plato is right to propose that some of the arguments Socrates makes in the Republic are strong enough to sustain all claims. However, the Republic still requires an answer to Glaucon and Adeimantus's question and that answer depends on the persuasive account of justice.

Socrates turns to define justice as a cardinal human virtue, which depends on the account of the human soul (Brown n.p). As with the Republic, every human soul is divided into three; reason, spirit, and appetite. Socrates ascribes emotions, beliefs, and desires as part of the soul, which later Plato recognizes as psychological attitudes. Also, belief and desire according to Plato should not be understood along the Humean lines since they are motivationally inert representations (Brown n.p). From the above analogies, Socrates points out that no individual can coherently explain cases of psychological conflict unless assuming that they are two parts of the soul; this principle is non-opposition. Because of this principle, one soul cannot be subject to opposition unless the attitudes that relate to emotions, beliefs, and desires are met.

Glaucon and Adeimantus's challenge to Socrates calls for the assessment of justice in the quality of life of many people in society. Although justice is blended as a proper form of wisdom, harmony, and art of ruling, it seems that there is no definition of justice yet. The concept of justice is associated with the idea of perfection or rather the fulfillment of the proper function. According to Stonehouse, Plato seeks to provide an Apologia where he defends poetry through logos (1). He says that justice is manifest in the ideal function of human beings and further indicates that injustice operates as an obstacle to human fulfillment (Brown n.p). So, the proper justice will comprise of the ideal components of a city than the intangible make-up of the human soul. On this assumption, Plato avows that it is important to first investigate justice in the cities then afterward look in the individual soul. Justice in society is dependent on the virtuous character of the guardian rulers. Therefore, in seeking to establish a just society, it is important to pay attention to the process of choosing and raising leadership. To develop a just city, members of a society need to select an individual whose nature is suited for guarding the city.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Plato's Apologia provides a structure, which in its reflection is an expression of analogy. At the same time, Socrates together with Glaucon and Adeimantus constructs a just city in a speech to explain justice. In a way of defending justice, Socrates considers reflects on a variety of theories of justice contemplating views of human happiness, education, and the nature of philosophy. Plato is convinced that storytellers must be persuaded against telling stories that are not conducive to the development of guardians of ideal perfect justice.

Works Cited

Bloom, Allan David. Plato's Symposium: A Translation by Seth Benardete with commentaries by Allan Bloom and Seth Benardete. University of Chicago Press, 2001. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=0zoQDYBYTs4C&oi=fnd&pg=PT7&dq=Plato%27s+Apology+Allan+Bloom+trans&ots=CpFYN9VcKy&sig=oQKqTx80xQSM8wbaF6JqNg1CkBI

Brown, Eric. "Plato's ethics and politics in the republic." (2003). https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-ethics-politics/

Stonehouse, Paul, Pete Allison, and David Carr. "Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates: Ancient Greek perspectives on experiential learning." Sourcebook of experiential education: Key thinkers and their contributions (2011): 18-25. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/pete_allison/publication/236896596_aristotle_plato_and_socrates_ancient_greek_perspectives_on_experiential_learning/links/0046351a0dd0115974000000.pdf