Book III starts by exploring the concept of courage. The
idea of the Gods for the Athenians is something that is bothering Plato. His
main concern is if the traditional way of thinking about the Gods is fostering
real virtues of courage. This dialogue
makes us understand the importance of questioning the consequences of things
that we hear or read. Socrates questions Homeric writing “ It’s not that they
are not poetic and sweet for the many to hear, but the more poetic they are,
the less should they be heard by boys and men who must be free and accustomed
to fearing slavery more than death.” (387b) It seems then that the media is
that shapes what we ought to fear and we ought not to fear. This is interesting
because I am currently taking a class where we are talking about End of Life
and how currently the media has distorted our perception of death. If an alien
were to land on earth and tried to understand the concept of human death and
got his first glance from a TV news feed it would seem that death is something
that happens tragically by either car accidents, suicide, natural disaster. But
this is not the true idea of death; death can occur naturally, on a hospital
bed, it happens at any age.
Similarly, Socrates is making this deep insight about
questioning what we read or hear.
Now moving on to moderation of the citizens through music
and poetry. I think that Plato is taking the influence of poetry and the arts
and analyzing it in moral grounds. He knows that certain poetry is not beneficial
for his city. He is working thinking the assumption that people imitate from
these sources. What I take out from this book is that Socrates makes a valid point
when trying to control the source that is influencing and impeding the people from
his city be just. But is his action just? I think Plato would say that it is,
because in the end everyone that belongs in the city must give up certain
desires to belong to the city. All for the greater good of the city.
Another take away is the fact that Plato is explaining the
effect of the social atmosphere in people. This reminds of the field of
sociology! So I guess we can say Plato has some sociologic perspectives as well
not just philosophical. Good Job Plato!!
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