"Rewriting the Poets in Plato" by David K. O'Connor

“Rewriting the Poets in Plato” by David K. O’Connor

           

             In the creation of the just city and determining the education of the guardians who protect and rule the city, Socrates states that poetry will not be allowed in the education system of the guardians. Yet the irony lies in the fact that Socrates himself refers back to famous poets such as Hesiod and Homer in order to retort the arguments made by Glaucon and Adeimantus (56). Plato uses these two poets in characterizing each of his brothers, adding a level of myth to the dialogue on justice (56).

            The references to the myth of Homer can be seen in the first few lines of the Republic, in which Socrates “descended” to Piraeus and Cephalus stating that Socrates does not “descend” to Piraeus very often (59). The word descend itself has mythological overtones as the Greek word means a trip to the underworld. O’Connor compares Socrates to the hero Odysseus who ended up retiring from his “labors” to live a quiet life away from politics after having descended into the underworld and gaining a new understanding (60). However, when Socrates refers to the passage in the Odyssey when Odysseus is told to seek out Teiresias, the blind prophet, we are left to question if Socrates is in fact the “hero” of the Republic or if he serves as the blind prophet who guides the hero out of the underworld (62). This idea of being guided towards the world of the living is revisited by Plato in the Allegory of the Cave where the only way for the prisoners to leave is if they are forcefully dragged up by someone (62). In the case of the Republic, it appears as though Socrates is the one guiding Glaucon in the ways of the world (62).

            O’Connor attributes the citing of Homer in the Republic to echo Glaucon, who is particularly interested in the political aspect of justice. Glaucon himself is portrayed as having manliness and courage as well as a lover of music and honor and erotic passion. The central question of the Republic is arguably how philosophy can channel the energy derived from this love of honor so that it can be used to serve the common good but not so that the desire to dominate overpowers the noble act (64). The guardian is said to be one who is not too soft and not too harsh and Socrates claims that Glaucon, though it seems he is political ambitious, is a mixture of both this softness (music) and harshness (gymnastics). But the fascination of tyranny as well as his struggle of erotic passion is most evident in his retelling of the Ring of Gyges in which he suggests that the first thing a man will do when given the opportunity to act free of consequences is to commit adultery. Because Glaucon is young, he does not have the wisdom to escape the fascination of tyranny as old men do and as a result, he needs a guide to show him. It is towards the end of the Republic that Socrates answers Glaucon’s Ring Of Gyges myth using passages from Homer that depict the afterlife. He brings up Hades’ cap which possesses the same power as the Ring of Gyges (68)

            The ambiguity of Socrates’ role as either the hero or the hero’s guide surround the question of whether “he knows how to get out of the cave or if he is simply showing the path for someone else” (63). According to O’Connor, the closest we ever get to answering this question is during the discussion of the “Good” during which everyone expects Socrates to explain what it is (63). However, Plato leaves us with a cliffhanger as Socrates says he cannot explain it, either because he does not truly know what it is or because those he is speaking to do not possess the capacity to understand it (63). O’Connor dives into the question of “What kind of guide Socrates has become for Glaucon?” (64). He identifies two moods that Socrates takes up throughout the dialogue, one that entails reformist ideals while the other an escapist’s. Socrates states that a guardian will want to flee from the city but must be compelled back into the world of politics.

            O’Connor points out that there is a religious/spiritual theme that can be found in the Republic, starting with the first few lines of the dialogue in which Socrates descends to Piraeus with Glaucon wanting to pray to the goddess (73). He draws the connection between the notions of using sacrifices as a way to atone for sins and the “releasing of the prisoners from their chains” in the Allegory of the Cave, both of which are ideas that Adeimantus rejects (75). While Glaucon is more concerned with the political aspect of justice, it seems as though Adeimantus is concerned with the spiritual aspect of justice. O’Connor says that Adeimantus wants simplicity, particularly in attaining virtue. Hesiod portrays the road of virtue to be a rough and steep one, something that Adeimantus wants to be easier (76). Just as Plato used Homer to answer Glaucon, he uses Hesiod in order to answer Adeimantus (78). Plato uses Hesiod’s “The Races of Metals” when talking about the noble lie and degeneration and especially the characterize the guardians. O’Connor ties in the retelling of Hesiod’s myth by Socrates, where the golden men haunt us even when they are still alive, into this idea of divine disguise as being a form of lying, something that Adeimantus is concerned with (81). Socrates once again looks to Homer in order to answer these questions. He suggests that Odysseus is a “disguised” god watching the suitors that have taken over his home, saying that a man is allowed to hide himself from his enemies if his life is in danger (83). The lies that exist in the Republic can be attributed to Plato’s rewriting of Hesiod’s “The Races of Metals” such as the noble lie that citizens must believe so that children are used as public resources for the city (83).

            Finally O’Connor ties in Hesiod’s myth when talking about the political degeneration in which he identifies the fourth of Plato’s five regimes as democracy. While it may be a bad regime, democracy is a city that can found when one adopts the reformist mood described earlier. Democracy allows for reform but also an escape because it is a regime that doesn’t necessarily have a “ruler” (87). O’Connor finishes his piece by praising Plato’s mythical take on democracy using the subtle voices of the poets Homer and Hesiod (87).

1. Do you think that Socrates’ role is more like Odysseus’s or more like Teiresias’s? Could his role be a combination of both or neither?
2. Does Plato’s incorporation of poetic passages contradict the initial decree of banning poetry from the education of the guardians?
3.   Why do you think that it is Glaucon that receives the speech about lying from Socrates even though it is Adeimantus who is concerned with human lying and divine disguise (83)?
4. Why do you think that Plato leaves this ambiguity regarding Socrates’s understanding of the “Good”?
5. O’Connor seems to think that Socrates had failed in guiding Glaucon by instilling in him two conflicting ideas, one where he cannot dismiss politics but also not be able to change it either (71). Do you think that Socrates failed? Where does this leave Glaucon in terms of either leaving the cave (politics) or returning to it?