Philosophy of Plato and Hobbes Good Essay

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Republic, Plato conceptualizes the concept of the good primarily in terms of justice. Justice in turn extends from and manifests as harmony, both at the macrocosmic or universal levels as with the movement of the celestial bodies, and at the microcosmic or mundane levels as in political or social life. Plato also discusses the nature, essence, and importance of absolute good as an archetypal Form. The Form of Good is the seed of all things good, just, and harmonious in the universe. Plato is only slightly less concerned with Good from a moral standpoint, as the philosopher seems to take for granted that moral Good and virtue fall under the rubric of the Form of Good. In Leviathan, Hobbes's concern with good has much more to do with the process of critical thinking and understanding the relative nature of human judgment. Human concern with good reflects the constant need to make judgments, which are often rooted in erroneous beliefs, falsities, or irrationalities. Hobbes is more concerned with the application of good judgment and therefore plants the seeds for a more utilitarian, situational, and relative concept of good as it applies to political decisions and social justice.

Plato investigates several different facets of the human concern with good, through characters like Socrates in The Republic. For example, good pertains to musical harmony, which "will give harmony to the soul," as "good gymnastic ... will give health to the body," (Book I). Good is therefore anything that actually feels good on a subjective level by the individual.

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Plato then discusses the issue of having good taste, which is the ability to perceive truth and/or beauty in a subject. On this level, Plato comes closest to congruence with Hobbes on the issue of good because of the way Hobbes becomes uniquely concerned with the application of human judgment. Just as Plato talks about having good taste as a matter of intellectual discernment, Hobbes also talks about the need to have good judgment in Chapters 7 and 8 of Leviathan. The human concern with good is therefore important because understanding good leads to effective judgment, and from effective judgment comes good governance. Good governance in turn leads to desirable -- essentially good -- political outcomes.

While neither philosopher is overly concerned with moral goodness, it would be impossible to examine the human concern with good without mentioning moral thought. Goodness means there is "no occasion to deceive or to defraud others, either intentionally or unintentionally" (Plato, Book I). Socrates also states that friends "ought always to do good to a friend and never evil," revealing Plato's strict moral outlook on the supremacy of social justice in all affairs. Hobbes does not spend much time on the moral facet of goodness either, but does acknowledge that there are innate and universal needs to pursue pleasure and avoid pain. Pain is bad, which is why people avoid it, and pleasure is good. In Chapter 6 of Leviathan,….....

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