Week Ten: PLATO
Politics, or the Cave: Types of Political Regimes and Types of Souls
November 14, 8 PM -9:30 pm
Plato’s Republic culminates in a shocking image: We are nothing more than prisoners in a dark cave (514a-515c). That cave is our political society or regime. From childhood it has taught us¬—yet also mis-taught us—what a good and just man is (517d-e), what we should most strive to be, and, in a certain sense, what we are. Is there a way out of our cave? What is the “turning around” of the soul that true education requires (518b-519b), and why is dialectics the road up and out, from opinion to truth (515c-d, 533c-534e)? What are the types of regimes, and what is the character of the person who rules, or is honored by, each regime? What causes regimes to fail: what are the prejudices and mistakes of each one? In particular, how is democracy presented, and how does it decline into tyranny (555b-569c)? Is democracy a good regime?