Essay on Platos Ideas of an Inefficient Democracy

Platos Ideas of an Inefficient Democracy Platos Republic describes precisely how he feels about society and what the true meaning of justice is within that society. Plato feels that a city can only function if each of pieces does its part and nothing else. He also thinks that a perfect society should run on a distinct social scale. This scale descends in the order from the philosopher kings to the guardians to the craftspeople. His ideal society would be run in the form of an aristocracy where the philosopher kings use the guardians to ultimately rule the lowly craftspeople. He deems that justice fits nicely into an aristocratic community. Plato does not believe, however, that a democratic society is beneficial or even has the†¦show more content†¦He comments on how lovely a democracy appears to be, just like a coat with many multicolored ornaments that fascinates women and children (Republic 228). In doing so he not only takes a cynical stance toward democracy, but he also ridicules the position of women wit hin a society. According to Plato, the average person lacks the knowledge and mastery of emotions necessary to make informed and rational decisions about various government laws and practices. He thinks that the general public is driven by its own self-interest in the world and therefore cannot act in a politically smart manner. Plato infers that letting these people, who are guided by emotion and ignorant to procedures of the government, run the State or democracy is a bad idea altogether. He decides that only the philosopher kings, whose main goal is to help maintain good for the entire community, should be allowed to rule a government. And he goes on to imply that the rulers need not be tempted by living simply to improve their own lives, rather they continue working to benefit everyone. Platos idea of democracy stated in the Republic sounds ideal in theory. If a society could function in this manner normally, it would be a utopian society basically. The only problem is tha t history has proven that societies based on this method and these procedures have generally failed. In ancient city-states, such as Athens, the democratic style of government proved to beShow MoreRelatedThe, Democracy, And Leadership1486 Words   |  6 Pagesassociate democracy and leadership as an antidote to conflict and corruption. This may also be the case since Greek culture illustrates that the polis was the final form of political association during the time when Aristotle was setting out his ideas. But even if this was the case, there is still much about politics we can learn. Despite the current understandings surrounding leadership and democracy as an antidote to stasis, it will be argued that both of these ideas are inefficient in curbingRead MorePlato And Aristotle s Views On Modern Political Thought And Regime1902 Words   |  8 PagesPhilosophers have pondered what makes for an ideal state since antiquity. In fact, the ideas theorized by the ancient Greek philosoph ers Plato and Aristotle over two millennia ago on this subject still resonate strongly today, influencing modern political thought and regime construction. Plato contends the ideal state is one ruled by a class of guardians, or â€Å"philosopher-kings†. These philosopher-kings are selected to rule because they are best fit for the responsibility. Aristotle, a pupil of PlatoRead MoreAthenian Demokratia Essay1672 Words   |  7 Pagesrelatively radical form of government for the time known as democracy (Hyland Lecture, 26/09/2013). Democracy is a system of collective decision-making in which the participants have equality at least at one essential point of the decision making process (Christiano, â€Å"Democracy†). Furthermore, the term ‘democracy’, which comes from the Greeks, literally means rule by the people. The system of government, created by the Greeks, known as Democracy possessed many unique characteristics such as judicial reviewRead MorePhilosop hy in Ancient Greece3782 Words   |  16 Pagesdeconstructing it in the process and proving them to be false. The process repeats itself as the person provides another, improved definition. In the end, both parties learn something of value. In performing this method Socrates likens himself to a midwife of ideas; as he chisels away at his opponent’s definition, the opponent is forced to think deeper and harder to come up with a better definition, so that at the end, he or she gains a better understanding of the subject by his or her own effort. Such was theRead More Destructiveness of The Treaty of Versailles Essay3300 Words   |  14 PagesThe idea and practice that the loser in wars should be severely punished so as to prevent a future recurrence has been in existence since ancient times. After all, it is only a logical extension, to conflicts between nations, of the â€Å"eye for an eye† doctrine of vengeance. When the Greeks avenged Paris stealing of Helen, they b urned Troy to the ground. When the Romans defeated Carthage in the Punic Wars, they went one step further – obliterating the city and spreading salt over the site of the cityRead More Major Events that Effected the Growth of the Economy Essay3449 Words   |  14 Pageschange in their governments as well as economies. Politically, reformers wanted to end party-state dictatorships and move towards a democracy. Economically, centrally planned economies were unsuccessful due to increased bureaucracy, excessive centralization, and debt obligation. Revolutions in Eastern Europe changed countries towards market-oriented economies and democracies. Countries of the Eastern European had a similar goal in the 1970s and 1980s: to end party-state dictatorships. Under party-state

Essay on The Allegory of the Cave - 1875 Words

In Platos Republic, the great philosopher describes what is needed to achieve a perfect society. He addresses several subjects still debated in todays society, such as justice, gender roles, and the proper form of education. He discusses these issues through his main character, Socrates. Socrates, another well-known philosopher for his time, happens upon a group of men, and what begins as a modest question, leads into a series of debates, metaphors, and allegories. Perhaps the most discussed allegory in todays popular culture is the Allegory of the Cave. Over the past decade, several movies have mimicked the fantasy, the most profitable being the Matrix Trilogy. But what makes this story so fascinating? Through it, Plato attempts to map†¦show more content†¦Since these are the only beings they are aware of, the sounds made by the people are also assumed to come from the shadows. Socrates summarizes their belief system stating, such men would hold that the truth is nothing ot her than the shadows of artificial things, (Book VII, 515c). After describing the setting of the cave, Socrates asks his audience to imagine that one of the prisoners breaks free from his bonds, and sees the fire and the statues themselves. He notes that there would first come pain as his eyes adjust to the new light, and disbelief, as everything he had previously thought to be real is suddenly proven artificial. However, Socrates assures his audience that the man would eventually come to realize that the people and the fire are more real than the shadows had ever been. He would ultimately grasp how the fire creates the shadows of the statues, creating a mere copy of the real thing. He would then conclude that the fire and the statues are the most real things in the world. Though the man would then seem to be educated, Socrates takes the fantasy farther by dragging the freed prisoner out of the cave and into the actual world. At first, the mans eyes would dart from the brightness of the sun, and watch only shadows. Eventually, his eyes would allow him to look at reflections and finally at the actual objects themselves. He then realizes that the trees, flowers, houses, rocks, and animals heShow MoreRelatedThe Allegory Of The Cave1086 Words   |  5 PagesExplain the allegorical significance(s) of the cave in Plato’s Republic. How is the cave an allegory of Plato’s philosophy? How is the allegory of the cave an allegory for enlightenment or philosophical education? How and why are most human beings like prisoners in a cave? Who are the puppeteers? What does the world outside the cave represent? What does the sun represent? Etc. What is Plato’s Theory of the Forms? What is a Form? How does the allegory of the cave express Plato†™s Theory of the Forms? HowRead MoreThe Allegory of the Cave907 Words   |  4 Pagesman follow the law, and how do implications of society affect our behavior. The most interesting topic from the Republic is from Book VII, the allegory of the cave. With the allegory of the cave Plato gives us the power to break the chains that bind us down and leads us to see the light. In the allegory of the cave Plato sets the scene with humans in a cave that have been chained since childhood so they are restricted from moving and looking around the room. These people only see the shadows castedRead MoreThe Allegory Of The Cave1382 Words   |  6 Pageshis most intricate, yet his most important figure: the Allegory of the Cave. Socrates calls on the interlocutors to imagine a dimly lit cave in which a group of prisoners are chained behind a wall in such a way that they cannot move and are forced to stare at a wall all day. Thanks to a small fire, the prisoners are able to see the shadows of their imprisoners and images their imprisoners projected on the wall. Having always been in the cave, the prisoners believe the shadows are true; similarlyRead MoreThe Allegory Of The Cave1307 Words   |  6 Pagesthe Allegory of the Cave there are prisoners are chained up together in which they are all facing the back wall. There is a firing behind the prisoners and the onl y thing that they can see are the shadows of the people behind them. The fire casts shadows on the wall so this is the only thing that they see. Their entire lives have been based on these shadows on the wall. These prisoners have been chained up since birth, so what they see on the walls is all they know. In the Allegory of the Cave, theyRead MoreThe Allegory Of The Cave Essay975 Words   |  4 Pagesof philosophy in Brooklyn College, once said â€Å"The only thing we know for certain is that nothing is certain.† This is the main philosophy behind both Plato’s â€Å"The Allegory of the Cave†, and the renowned sci-fi movie â€Å"The Matrix.† Both works deal with escaping a false reality while unveiling a real one. In Plato’s â€Å"The Allegory of the Cave†, the escaped prisoner synonymous to the character Neo in â€Å"The Matrix†, exhibiting a shared theme behind both plots. Socrates suggest that with effort, all that isRead MoreThe Allegory Of The Cave905 Words   |  4 PagesIn the allegory of the cave Plato tries to show us two scenarios where the prisoners experience emotional and intellectual revelations throughout their lives. Plato’s theory was that the ones who truly understand knowledge should guide the ignorant people out of their unenlightened states of being and into true knowledge. The cave symbolizes the people who think that knowledge come from what they see and hear in the world. It also indicates people that make assumptions about life based on the substantialRead MoreThe Allegory Of The Cave Essay2021 Words   |  9 Pagesrecognizable image of Plato’s Republic, the message of the allegory of the cave is present not only in Book VII, but throughout the entire dialogue. Plato-as-Socrates uses the allegory to express his views on philosophy’s role in his city of speech which is later shown more deeply with the five regimes in Book VIII. The cities in the five regimes underg o a degradation as philosophy moves further and further away from the ruler; which also mirrors the cave. Plato reveals his belief that the city and philosophyRead MoreThe Allegory Of The Cave Essay1660 Words   |  7 Pages 3. Explain how the Allegory of the Cave represents Plato’s views about the nature of knowledge and the nature of reality. In the Allegory of the Cave there are chained prisoners in cave who can only stare at the cave wall in front of them. At the back there is a long entrance with a staircase the width of the cave and a fire burning in the distance. They see only shadows projected in front of them from a raised platform and hear an echo that they attribute to what they observe. They talk aboutRead MoreThe Allegory Of The Cave1619 Words   |  7 PagesIn his allegory of the cave, Plato describes a scenario in which chained-up prisoners in a cave understand the reality of their world by observing the shadows on a cave wall. Unable to turn around, what seems to be reality are but cast shadows of puppets meant to deceive the prisoners. In the allegory, a prisoner is released from his chains and allowed to leave the cave. On his way out, he sees the fire, he sees the puppets, and then he sees the sun. Blinded by the sunlight, he could only stare downRead MoreThe Allegory Of The Cave Essay718 Words   |  3 PagesThesis Allegory of Cave First what is perception and ignorance? Let us define perception as one’s view of life through rationalization of the external world and ignorance as an assumption without proof and contemplation. In the â€Å"Allegory of The Cave†, Plato uses Socrates to explain different types of people, one who sees the physical realm accepting ideas as they form and one who lives in knowledge realm by questioning those ideas. People of the knowledge realm are obligated to helps those in the

Are All Adolescents at High Risk for Drug Addiction Free Essays

‘Psychological characteristics’ is the reason behind the involvement of the young adults to the use of drugs. This is what the authors who investigated the children in Woodlawn have found.   The study of Kellam, Branch, Agrawal and Ensminger regarding the investigation of how the use of drugs has been present in the childhood antecedents traced how the group of urban children from 6 to 7 years old developed. We will write a custom essay sample on Are All Adolescents at High Risk for Drug Addiction? or any similar topic only for you Order Now In this study, the authors found that after a decade, when the children aged 16 and 17, they have been using drugs. Also, children who began going to school have already varied ways into young adulthood. (Kellam, Branch, Agrawal, Ensminger, 1975; Kellam, Brown, Rubin, Ensminger, 1983) There was also this study of Jeanne and Jack Block about the children at the San Francisco Bay area, whom since nursery have experienced cases with which psychological characteristics has also been the cause. If in Woodlawn study, children involved are those aged 16 and 17, in this study, they have found out that children, at the age of 14, has already committed to drugs and the crimes and cases with its involvement, which is quite alarming.  (J. H. Block J. Block, 1980) The study required the authors to call the government’s attention in mitigating the cases committed by young adults. But aside from the government’s efforts in conducting programs and actions, the study also eyes for the parents to take actions regarding the issue. In terms of the responsibility, it has been the parents who are always on the position to take care of the psychological and emotional development of the children. These studies also included the whole range of conference later subsumed by the California Child Q-sort and the California Adult Q-sort that was designed to give permission to the clinicians in providing the in-depth, wide-ranging psychological descriptions. It was intend to gather information that is full of all psychological terms to talk about the concerns of the clinical and to give information to the efforts of intervention. (Smith, G. M., Fogg, C. P. (1978). Earlier investigators to this case have assumed nonstop relationships between the measures of psychological disturbances and the level of drug usage. It is because the approach assumes that the infrequent experimentation with the drugs has been problematic in terms of psychology, because of the tendency and the pressure to the adolescents for the regular use of drugs and for it becomes good to them (drugs are found to be good when the user is under the influence of it). Nonetheless, most of the adolescents in the United States have experiments in the use of marijuana most of the time, and the huge majority of these adolescents do not latterly become abusers of drugs because there is found â€Å"adjustment in the psychosocial† to those young adults who have experiments the use of drugs occasionally and of those young adults who totally avoided drugs. (Johnston et al., 1986; Johnston, Bachman, O’Malley, 1981 a, 1981 b; Miller et al., 1983; NIDA, 1986) Certainly, occasional use of drugs is what has been suggested by most of the researchers for the adolescents to understand the manifestation of the developmentally appropriate experimentation.   One of them has observed those behaviors, personalities and the attitudes of the young adults before they choose a path to in their own choice. It is an expedition for or the organization of self-rule and independently personality and performance. This may be believed a normative attitude among the adolescents of the America from a developmental mission of outlook and in conditions of incidence. In their study, the subject was one hundred and one children. There are forty nine boys and the fifty two remaining are girls. All ages 18 years old. They came from the preliminary preview of one hundred and thirty respondents in a study of the development of ego and mentality. They were at first employed into the experiment at their age of three. They were attending their nursery then, assessed by their parents.   The children have been measured on an extensive successions of psychological methods at ages three, four, five, eleven, fourteen and eighteen. Because there are just few of the subjects were lost over many of years, there can still be an amount of degree of difference of the slow destruction. In the interview, it has been those with the age of eighteen are being collected of the information about drugs. These interviews were conducted by the skilled and knowledgeable deficiency experts and the interviews varied over a selection of topics together with the works in school, relationship with the classmates and friends, the dynamics of the family and the personal interests.   The respondents were given questions about if they smoked pot or if they are using it in another form. The response goes with answers like if they never used marijuana, used it one time or two, more than two, one time in a month, one time in a week; twice or thrice in a week and the daily usage. The result of the study reveals that thirty seven percent of the respondents have reportedly trying cocaine and those who tried hallucinogens have been about twenty five percent. It was about ten percent of them found to be trying inhalants, barbiturates, amphetamines and even tranquilizers. There was also one of them has found to have used the heroin.   Those who tried marijuana also have the largest count, which is about sixty-eight percent. Before this, it was researched that four years earlier, it was fifty one percent only of the research have been using marijuana. Of the sixty eight percent of the category, thirty nine percent has found to be using marijuana once or more within a month, while twenty one percent of it has found to be using it in a week or about more than a week. These data point out that in a no selected delayed young adult example, irregular study with the marijuana is not destructive in terms of personal and societal. This insight is held up by studies of the penalties of drug usage, as well as with the research in the background and associative of drug usage and by with the truth that most of the young adults in America have tested marijuana but have not consequently turn to be abusers of drugs. The obvious contradiction between medical awareness and the found facts by the study, on the other hand, have been resulted when it has been documented that the individuals who in attendance themselves for drug treatment are not courier of the broad population of the young adults. For them, the study with the drugs is extremely unhelpful because drugs effortlessly become an element of a wider pathological disease. For the young adults more in general, some of the study in drugs is obviously does not have the appalling repercussion in the psychology. The Institute of Criminal Justice and Criminology made an evaluation of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE). It examines the DARE if it functions well or bad, and if its reaction to the incidents of drugs is being competent. They compared three hundred forty one fifth grader DARE students to those students who are not under the DARE. There were found major differences in the anticipated track for the usage of alcohol in the previous year, trust in the non anti-society standards, involvement with the group of friends who uses drugs, productive involvement in a group, approach to the police or military, conduct trick, liking and enthusiasm to the school, behaviors that are close to to material usage, and rudeness There were no distinctions found on the vice materials such as tobacco, cigarettes, and or marijuana usage last year, incidence of any use of drugs in the previous month. All have been the same, just some changes in terms of number figure, but in the total picture of it, nothing has changed. CONCLUSION   There have been a lot of books, references, studies and publications that are being made by the experts for the benefit of research and information to identify the causes and effects of the drug addiction issues worldwide. Almost every man in the world knows that the use of drugs is illegal, as it has been imposed by the government that drug use is prohibited because of its negative effects and disadvantages. The reason why there is a high risk for the adolescents in drug addiction is mostly because of the psychological attributes. The quality of guidance and assistance of the parents to their children is proven to be the major cause on why young adults are getting involved into drug addiction. It has been the parents who are being responsible on why the kids grow out of the path and without proper orientation of what life must be when they get into the matured age. Young adults are very prone in the addiction to drugs for their vulnerability stage. They are in the most curious stage of their lives in which no one can not stop them of being probing of everything new to them. The temptation to do everything they want because they are curious about it is very active at their age. So they are really at the high risk of drug addiction. How to cite Are All Adolescents at High Risk for Drug Addiction?, Papers