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21 - The Republic - Plato · Logic Library

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  Book six, Part one. And thus Lochan, after the argument has gone
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  a weary way, the true and the false philosophers have at length appeared in
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  view. I do not think, he said, that the way could have
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  been shortened. I suppose not, I said, And yet I believe that
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  we might have had a better view of both of them if the discussion could
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  have been confined to this one subject, and if there were not many other
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  questions awaiting us, which he who desires to see in what respect the life
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  of the just differs from that of the unjust, must consider. And what
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  is the next question, he asked, Surely, I said, the one
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  which follows next in order. Inasmuch as philosophers only are able to grasp the
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  eternal and unchangeable, and those who wander in the region of the many invariable
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  are not philosophers, I must ask you which of the two classes should be
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  the rulers of our state? And how can we rightly answer that question?
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  Whichever of the two are best able to guard the laws and institutions of our
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  state, let them be our guardians. Very good neither, I said,
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  Can there be any question that the guardian who is to keep anything should have
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  eyes rather than no eyes, There can be no question of that. And
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  are not those who are verily and indeed wanting in the knowledge of the true
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  being of each thing, and who have in their souls no clear pattern,
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  and are unable, as with a painter's eye, to look at the absolute
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  truth and to that original to repair, and having perfect vision of the other
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  world, to order the laws about beauty, goodness, justice, and this
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  if not already ordered, and to guard and preserve the order of them?
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  Are not such persons, I ask, simply beloved Truly, he replied,
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  they are much in that condition. And shall they be our guardians when there
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  are others who, besides being their equals inexperience, and falling short of them
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  in no particular virtue, also know the very truth of each thing. There
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  can be no reason, he said, for rejecting those who have the greatest
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  of all great qualities. They must always have the first place, unless they
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  fall in some other respect. Suppose, then, I said that we determine
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  how far they can unite this and the other excellencies by all means. In
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  the first place, as we began by observing the nature of the philosopher,
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  has to be ascertained we must come to an understanding about him. And when
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  we have done so, then, if I am not mistaken, we shall
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  also acknowledge that such an union of qualities is possible, and that those in
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  whom they are united, and those only, should be rulers in the state.
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  What do you mean? Let us suppose that philosophical minds always love knowledge
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  of a sort which shows them the eternal nature, not varying from generation and
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  corruption. Agreed. And further, I said, let us agree that they
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  are lovers of all true being. There is no part, whether greater or
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  less, or more or less honorable, which they are willing to renounce,
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  as we said before, of the lover and the man with ambition true.
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  And if they are to be what we were describing, is there not another
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  quality which they should also possess? What quality? Truthfulness? They will never
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  intentionally receive into their mind falsehood, which is their detestation, and they will
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  love the truth. Yes, that may be safely affirmed to them, may
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  be, my friend, I replied, is not the word say, rather
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  must be affirmed. For he whose nature is amorous of anything cannot help loving
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  all that belongs or is akin to the object of his affections, right,
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  he said, And is there anything more akin to wisdom than truth? How
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  can there be? Can the same nature be a lover of wisdom and a
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  lover of falsehood? Never? The true lover of learning, then must from
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  his earliest youth, as far as in him lies desire all truth assuredly.
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  But then again, as we know by experience, he whose desires are strong
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  in one direction will have them weaker in others. They will be like a
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  stream which has been drawn off into another channel. True, he whose desires
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  are drawn towards knowledge in every form, will be absorbed in the pleasures of
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  the soul, and will hardly feel bodily pleasure. I mean, if he
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  be a true philosopher and not a sham one. That is most certain,
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  such a one is sure to be temperate, and the reverse of covetous,
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  for the motives which make another man desirous of having and spending have no place
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  in his character. Very true. Another criterion of the philosophical nature has also
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  to be considered. What is that there should be no secret corner of illiberality.
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  Nothing can be more antagonistic than meanness to a soul which is ever longing
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  after the whole of things, both divine and human. Most true, he
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  replied, Then, how can he who has magnificence of mind and is the
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  spectator of all time and all existent think much of human life? He cannot?
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  Or can such a one death fearful? No. Indeed, then the
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  cowardly and mean nature has no part in true philosophy. Certainly not. Or
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  again, can he who's harmoniously constituted, who is not covetous or mean,
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  or a boaster or a coward? Can he, I say, ever,
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  be unjust or hard in his dealings? Impossible? Then you will soon observe
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  whether a man is just and gentle or rude and unsociable. These are the
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  signs which distinguish, even in youth, the philosophical nature from the unphilosophical true.
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  There is another point which should be remarked, What point whether he has
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  or has not a pleasure in learning? For no one will love that which
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  gives him pain, and in which, after much toil he makes little progress.
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  Certainly not. And again, if he is forgetful and retains nothing of
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  what he learns, will he not be an empty vessel? That is certain?
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  Laboring in vain he must end in hating himself and his fruitless occupation.
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  Yes, then a soul which forgets cannot be ranked among genuine philosophical natures.
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  We must insist that the philosopher should have a good memory, certainly, and
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  once more, the inharmonious and unseemly nature can only tend to disproportion, undoubtedly,
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  And do you consider truth to be akin to proportion or to disproportion to
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  proportion? Then, besides other qualities, we must try to find a naturally
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  well proportioned and gracious mind, which move spontaneously towards the true being of everything.
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  Certainly, well, and do not all these qualities which we have been
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  enumerating go together? And are they not in a manner necessary to a soul
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  which is to have a full and perfect participation of being? They are absolutely
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  necessary, he replied, And must not that be a blameless study which he
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  only can pursue who has the gift of a good memory and is quick to
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  learn, noble, gracious, the friend of truth, justice, courage,
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  temperance, Who are his kindred? The god of jealousy himself, he said,
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  could find no fault with such a study. And to men like him,
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  I said, when perfected by years and education, and to these only
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  you will entrust the state. Here Idaemitus interposed and said, to these statements,
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  Socrates, no one can offer a reply. But when you talk in
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  this way, a strange feeling passes over the minds of your hearers. They
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  fancy that they are let us stray a little at each step in the argument,
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  owing to their own want of skill in asking and answering questions. These
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  little accumulate, and at the end of the discussion they're found who have sustained
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  a mighty overthrow, and all their former notions appear to be have turned upside
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  down. And as unskillful players of drafts are shut up by their more skillful
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  adversaries and have no piece to move, so they two find themselves shut up
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  at last, for they have nothing to say in this new game, of
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  which words are counters. And yet all the time they are in the right.
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  The observation is suggested to me by what is now occurring. For any
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  one of us might say that although in words he is not able to meet
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  you at each step of the argument, he seems as a fact that the
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  votaries of the lawlosophy, when they carry on the study, not only in
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  youth as a part of education, but as the pursuit of their maturer years,
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  most of them become strange monsters, not to say, utter rogues,
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  And that those who may be considered the best of them are made useless to
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  the world by the very study which you extol well. And do you think
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  that those who say so are wrong? I cannot tell, he replied,
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  But I should like to know what is your opinion here my answer, I
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  am of opinion that they are quite right. Then how can you be justified
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  in saying that cities will not cease from evil until philosophers rule in them,
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  when philosophers are acknowledged by us to be of no use to them. You
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  ask a question, I said, to which a reply can only be given
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  in a parable. Yes, Socrates, and that is a way way of
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  speaking to which you are not tall accustomed. I suppose I perceive, I
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  said, that you are vastly amused at having plunged me into such a hopeless
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  discussion. But now hear the parable, and then you will be still more
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  amused at the meagerness of my imagination. For the manner in which the best
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  man are treated in their own states is so grievous that no single thing on
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  earth is comparable to it. And therefore if I am to plead their cause,
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  I must have recourse to fiction. I'm put together a figure made up
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  of many things, like the fabulous unions of goats and stags which are found
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  in pictures. Imagine then, a fleet worship, in which there is a
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  captain who is taller and stronger than any of the crew, but he is
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  a little deaf and has a similar infirmity in sight, and his knowledge of
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  navigation is not much better. The sailors are quarreling with one another about the
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  steering. Everyone is of opinion that he has a right to steer, though
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  he has never learned the art of navigation, and cannot tell who taught him
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  or when he learned, and will further assert that it cannot be taught,
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  and they are ready to cut in pieces anyone who says the contrary. They
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  throng about the captain, begging and praying him to commit the helm to them,
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  And if at any time they do not prevail, but others are preferred
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  to them, they kill the others or throw them overboard, And having first
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  chained up the noble captain's senses with drink or some narcotic drug. They mutiny
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  and take possession of the ship and make free with the stores. Thus eating
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  and drinking, they proceed on their voyage in such manner as might be expected
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  to them. He who is the partisan and cleverly aids them in their plot
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  forgetting the ship out of the captain's hands into their own, whether by force
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  or persuasion. They compliment with the name of sailor pilot able seaman, and
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  abuse the other sort of man, whom they call a good for nothing but
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  that the true pilot must pay attention to the year and seasons, and sky
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  and stars and wind, and whatever else belongs to his art if he intends
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  to be really qualified for the command of a ship, and that he must
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  and will be the steerer, Whether other people like or not. The possibility
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  of this union of authority with the steerer's art has never seriously entered into their
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  thoughts or been made part of their calling. Now, in vessels which are
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  in a state of mutiny, and by sailors who are mutineers, how will
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  the true pilot be regarded? Will he not be called by them a praicher,
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  a stargazer, a good for nothing, of course, said Idamatus.
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  Then you will hardly need, I said, to hear the interpretation of the
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  figure which describes the true philosopher in his relation to the state, for you
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  understand it already certainly. Then Suppose you now take this parable to the gentleman
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  who is surprised at finding that philosophers have no honor in their cities. Explain
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  it to him, and try to convince him that their having honor would be
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  far more extraordinary. I will say to him that in deeming the best votaries
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  of philosophy to be useless to the rest of the world, he is right.
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  But also tell him to attribute their uselessness to the fault of those who
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  will not use them, and not to themselves. The pilot should not humbly
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  beg the sailors to be commanded by him. This is not the order of
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  nature. Neither are the wise to go to the doors of the rich in
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  the ingenious. All author of this saying told a lie. But the truth
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  is that when a man is ill, whether he be rich or poor,
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  to the physician he must go, and he who wants to be governed to
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  him who is able to govern the ruler who is good for anything, ought
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  not to beg his subjects to be ruled by him. Although the present governors
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  of mankind are of a different stamp, they may be justly compared to the
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  mutinous sailors, and the true helsman, to those who are called by them
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  good for nothings and stargazers. Precisely so he said, for these reasons,
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  and among men like these, philosophy, the noblest pursuit of all is not
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  likely to be much esteemed by those of the opposite faction. Not that the
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  greatest and most lasting injuries done to her by her opponents, but by her
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  own professing followers, the same of whom you suppose, accuser to say that
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  the greatest number of them are arrant rose, and the best are useless,
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  in which opinion I agreed, Yes, And the reason why the good are
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  useless has now been explained true. End of Book six, Part one,