Kyle
McAlpin
Dr.
Thomas
Ancient
Greek
16
February 2016
Chaining of the Children
Book three of The Republic of Plato discusses the types of information that
should be presented to the children of the city that are future guardians. Plato
argues that the content of the stories and poems about the Gods or historical
figures, music, and myths told to these children must be regulated. He says
that the children must only be exposed to information and art that guides them
to be guardians, and that anything that would hold them back from their job
should not be shared with them. Plato, by controlling the information presented
to the children, is, in a sense, chaining them down into a cave; a cave where
he is casting the shadows on the wall.
Plato starts off this book by
arguing that the underworld should not be presented as a dreadful place to make
the children courageous. Guardians are tasked with protecting the city, and,
because of this, they must not be afraid to die: “And what if they are to be
courageous? Mustn’t they also be told things that will make them fear death
least? Or do you believe that anyone who has this terror in him would ever
become courageous” (Book III 386a). The guardians, if they are to perform their
job perfectly, have to be courageous. Tales of Hades and the terror of the underworld
will cause the children who hear these tales to be fearful in their future battles.
Rather than fearing death, Plato wants the guardians to accept and praise
death: “ask them not simply to disparage Hades’ domain in this way but rather
to praise it, because what they say is neither true nor beneficial for men who
are to be fighters” (Book III 386c). He disagrees with the popular Greek
understanding of the underworld and afterlife, and by changing the stories about
the underworld he is limiting the information presented to future guardians.
This limitation of information is the first way Plato is chaining down the
guardians into a new cave.
Plato not only disagrees with the
Greek mythological view of the underworld, but also with the human
characteristics of the Greek gods. The Greek gods are not only portrayed as
having a human physique, but also as exhibiting human emotions. To keep the
guardians courageous, Plato says that they must not experience extreme grief or
sorrow. Tales of the gods or historical figures exhibiting these emotions could
sway the guardians to believe that these emotions are acceptable: “And yet far
more than this, we’ll ask them under no condition to make gods who lament and
say, ‘Ah me, wretched me, ah me unhappy mother of the best man’” (Book III 388
b-c). Even though Geek oral tales depict
the attribute of the gods, Plato does not want the guardians to adhere to these
forms of the gods: “For, as we were saying before, these things are neither
holy nor true. For, surely, we showed that it’s impossible for evil to be
produced by gods” (Book III 391 d). Not
wanting the guardians to believe in the traditional gods is another limitation
of information and knowledge, and so it is another way in which Plato is
chaining the guardians down.
Plato also wants the future guardians to
not except the Greek stories about great historical figures and warriors that
exhibit human emotions that he considers unjust or defects. Many of the tales
of the Greek heroes, such as Achilles, portrays them as arrogant or unjust:
Achilles who was reared… so full of
confusion as to contain within himself two diseases that are opposite to one
another- illiberality accompanying love of money, on the one hand, and arrogant
distain for gods and human beings on the other. (Book III 391c)
The
guardian must protect and fight with the the skill of heroes such as Achilles,
but Plato does not want them to share the moral faults of some of these heroes.
They must not fall victim to desires of the working class. The guardian class
are supposed to perform their job in the city, not for money or rewards, but justly
and for the advantage of the city. Just as with the stories of the gods, if the
children admire and follow the example of these characters, they will be unable
to become guardians and perform their job in the city.
The last way Plato chains down the
readers of The Republic in book three
is through his myth of metals. After discussing all the information and art
that should be banned from the children of the city, he presents a myth that
makes this ban applicable to all of the children in the city. The myth of
metals states that the guardian, auxiliary, and worker classes are not decided
by the child’s social status, but by “the god” at birth: “the god, in
fashioning those of you who are competent to rule, mixed gold in at their
birth; this is why they are most honored; in auxiliaries, silver; and iron and
bronze in the farmers and other craftsmen” (Book III 415a). According to this
myth any child has the possibility to become a guardian, and that the guardians
will be decided through testing of intelligence and physical strength. This
myth allows for Plato’s restrictions on stories presented to children to be
applied to all the children of the city.
Book three is the first book that
Plato starts to metaphorically enchain his audience into a cave of his making.
By controlling and regulating the Greek stories, poems, artwork, and myths, he
is creating the shadows on the wall of this cave. This control of knowledge
allows for him to strengthen his arguments in The Republic, and chain down all of the city. The guardian class
are supposed to become the philosophy kings, but Plato is controlling what they
hear from a young age. He is making it to where they will forever be chained
down in his cage, and will only master the knowledge of his shadows.
Work Cited
Plato, and Allan Bloom. The Republic of Plato. New York: Basic,
1991. Print
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