Socrates, A Philosopher’s Tale to Plato’s Brother, Glaucon

Socrates begins this book by describing the people, chained to the walls, suffering from delusions and hallucinations, obscured from the world completely, only thinking of these shadows as their true companions. Socrates, in talking to Glaucon, always uses dialogue that confirms each and every thought has been understood. In this way, he assures the listener, in this case Glaucon, that they are hearing correctly and both parties are on the same page. In this talk about the chained men in the cave, Socrates attempts to show Glaucon the importance of showing compassion in order to have a successful city, a one successful Republic. This essay will be dissecting Book IV of the Republic where Socrates highlights the importance of justice and the difference between the public and philosophers in general, those who are chained versus those who are freed, respectively. Then, it will take apart the dialogue and infer its implications to our society today.

Socrates speaks wisely when he says, “justice would be what was left over when … moderation, courage and wisdom have been found” (The Republic, Book IV, p. 108, lines 443 b-c). The purpose of this speech is to emphasize justice as the preferred method for running a city, however, he adds that there are three specific details to justice that must run simultaneously and collectively in order for justice to be fulfilled. Moderation, courage and wisdom are noted as the most important factors in a successfully ran city. Glaucon seems to be following him, but it is obvious that it takes him a while to catch up. Socrates, thus, helps him through examples, analogies and questions confirming understanding (for instance, Book IV, p. 108, Line 433 e – 433 c).

Socrates was also trying to emphasize the need for autonomy in all human beings and the need to leave others alone and not “meddle with what is other people’s business” (433d). When individuals are meddled with, then they are influenced to change their lives, in ways that may not be just for them or others. “Meddling and exchange between [the] classes” leads to upheaval and certainly to disaster if the majority does not place justice as priority. Justice needs to have the three factors mentioned above, according to Socrates, unfortunately, not everyone shares that ideal of justice. Many will place their own beliefs in front of their interpretations of what justice is and follow that through, taking with them countless of people who may also believe courage or wisdom are not needed for justice to be practiced.

Today, Socrates would not last very long. Our generation (and many before us) has evolved into beings that may be confused as to what justice truly is. Justice for us today does not have anything to do with moderation, courage and wisdom. It has everything to do with extremist perspectives, volatile passive-aggressive authority figures (many times completely aggressive and not passive), and a lack of importance on wisdom to deal with legal matters (as precedents do mark new legislations). Socrates would be in the wrong time and place if he were ever to stand in front of a crowd today trying to explain that we need to be just, not let others mingle in our business, and start showing some compassion, opening our minds to something above the physical, a connection that can only be brewed on a spiritual and mental level with our fellow humans.

On the focus of wisdom, I would like to expand. As a society, I think we have lost track with the meaning of this word and have not been taught from prior generations the importance of this great gift that is experience, and wisdom. Our generation is focused on youth, immaturity; the media takes the young and idolizes them, making the world believe that wisdom lies among those with no experience, knowledge or education. Unfortunately, this may be why our world is decaying at such fast speeds morally and emotionally. Our generation is filled with drug use, our justice system is incorrect more so than it is actually applying justice frameworks, the police is against those they serve and the community is fed up with politicians promising lies after lies. We are aware of the problems, nevertheless, we choose to conform to the new ideals of justice, wisdom and specifically, meddling. Everything today is about knowing of the other, instead of getting to know the self.

To suppose others have the right intention in mind is to be a fool, if we are to consider how Socrates described being freed, being a philosopher. The chained men in the cave were delusional and saw hallucinations of shadows that they thought were real, and their companions. We are living in a delusional state as well as a society, allowing others to meddle into the way we think about life itself, our selves and more. We are hallucinating and seeing objects and stuff as the tools needed to be happy, we count on wealth to do this and we are wrong, we are just chained. If we were to be free from these delusions and hallucinations, curing our mind by really creating wisdom, then we would see that there is more to life than wealth, justice should not be the way it is today (rough justice), it should be moderate and allow for moderation within the population. We would be free if we stopped thinking of ourselves as marketing ads that only wear labels and brands. We should stop fighting with those who are innocent and go after the real fraudulent parties here, the politicians running this capitalist game of chaining the public and enslaving them into a consumer culture. But, we will not be free if we continue to think that the ends to all means is money and that justice must serve an economic purpose. Socrates would argue that we need to look within our selves to find justice and wisdom.

Works Cited

Reeve, C. D. C. (2004). Plato: Republic. Translated From The New Standard Greek Text, With.