Influential Minds in Western Philosophy Thesis

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Our key clue in this passage is the reference to Dionysia, the festival in honor of Dionysus, God of Wine and Pleasure. Instead of philosophical study, this festival is held in the Spring for 6 days of plays, tragedies, feats, and wine. Dionysus, as the inspirer of madness and ecstasy, is hardly a recommendation for a true philosopher/king' instead, the preoccupation focuses on the sensualist who, in their own type of wisdom, has but two positions -- on and charming, or off and degrading (Dalby, 2005).

Knowledge, on the other hand, is necessary for any action to become more than that action alone. Ignorance turns away from knowledge; opinion is express of knowledge based on cultural truths or undocumented hearsay. Opinion, though, attempts to conceal fact being mere stories or boast, rather than considered introspective thought. The dream state is falsehood, inspired by emotion and the idea of greed and lust, it is easy to pursue, easy to repeat, and easy to proselytize -- it just happens not to be true. Corruption, too, plays a role in this journey, which in a sense, is rather an Ancient version of Maslow's Law of Hierarchical Needs, a more modern version of moving from the basic needs of survival to the more complicated, but just as important, needs of the soul.

For Plato, the defined philosopher is really someone who loves wisdom.

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A lover of true knowledge and the journey towards that knowledge as opposed to simple sights and education -- the difference between a luscious, complex scent and a harsh one-dimensional one. Certainly, this is an ideal, but nonetheless, this ship of State so needs a bow, mast, and steering -- for "a true pilot must of necessity pay attention to the seasons, the heavens, the starts, the winds, and everything proper to the craft if he is ready to rule a ship" (VII, 488d).

The idea of elevating a philosopher to kingship, while not anathema or even challenging for a contemporary audience, must have seemed quite fantastic for Plato's audience, who had one despot or another ruling by "divine" or "familial" right rather than particular qualifications for the role. Within the 20th century, it is interest to not that such political figures as Josef Stalin, Leon Trotsky, and even Hitler found the Republic to be a superb example of a "resource guide" for leadership, unfortunately forgetting that one of the strongest principles from Plato requires morality and accountability: an individual capable of ruling a just society must have a passion for truth, have achieve wisdom of the Good, and genuinely and adequately philosophize (V, 473d).

REFERENCES

Baird, F. And W. Kaufmann. (2008). From Plato to Derrida. Prentice Hall.

Dalby, a. (2005). The Story of Bacchus. British Museum Press.

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