The Allegory of Justice, Piety and Impiety The Allegory of Justice, Piety and Impiety Ashley Irwin Philosophy

101 Summer 2011

Ashley Irwin

Platos theory of forms/ideas appears to hold true in the Socratic Era, but when used in a current setting today, we find some loopholes within the theory. Platos theory states that not the material world but the abstract forms/ideas are the highest and most fundamental kind of reality we have as humans. Plato believes that the forms he spoke of could create a possible solution to the problems of the universe. When Plato refers to abstract forms or ideas he is speaking of things such as justice, virtue, piety and impiety, which are all common themes in his writings. Platos theory of forms appears in the dialogues the Euthyphro, the Crito, the Meno, and the Allegory of the Cave. In the Euthyphro dialogue, Plato focuses his attention on the virtues of piety and impiety. The Euthyphro is a dialogue between Socrates and Euthyphro. The scene is set at the kingarchons court, where Socrates is facing charges of corrupting the youth and not believing in the gods, and Euthyphro is charging his father with the murder of one of their slaves. They get into the conversation of what is pious and impious. Euthyphro says he is doing the pious thing by charging his father with murder. Socrates questions Euthyphro on what the definition of piety and impiety is. The first definition Euthyphro gives is, I say that the pious is to do what I am doing now, to prosecute the wrongdoer, be it about a murder or a temple robbery or anything else, whether the wrongdoer is your father or your mother or anyone else; not to prosecute is

The Allegory of Justice, Piety and Impiety

Ashley Irwin

impious.(P.6 dialogues). Socrates uses his method to question all the definitions of piety and impiety that Euthyphro gives. After many rounds of questioning and redefining, Socrates and Euthyphro end up back at the same definition they began with, leaving us with no sound definition of piety and impiety. With no real definition of what is pious and impious, Socrates narrows his search to find the definition of justice. The Crito is the dialogue between Socrates and Crito. Crito is an old faithful friend of Socrates, who went to visit Socrates in jail to try to persuade him to escape into exile before he is put to death for his crimes. Crito says to Socrates, I do not think what you are doing is just, to give up your life when you can save it, and to hasten your fate as your enemies would hasten it, and indeed you have hastened it in their wish to destroy you. Moreover, I think you are betraying your sons by going away and leaving them, when you could bring them up and educate them.(P.48 dialogues) This leads to defining what is just and what is not. Crito believes that by escaping to exile would be the just thing to do. He believes by not escaping and accepting his fate he is being unjust to his sons and wife. That Socrates is depriving his sons of a father and a teacher. Crito is even willing to pay off whomever he needs to, to allow Socrates to escape, and move to another country. Socrates believes by doing just that that he is being unjust. He believes that because he is willed to die by Athens, he is doing the just thing by accepting his fate, which is death. Socrates believes he will be doing an unjust action to his country if he pays them off and is exiled from Athens. Like the old adage, Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, we can apply this to the virtue of justice. Justice is in the eye of the beholder. The next reading is the dialogue between Socrates and Meno. Meno comes from one of the leading aristocratic families, who is about to embark on a military and political career. Meno is sponsored by Anytus, who was one of Socrates accusers. Meno has come to Socrates to seek
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The Allegory of Justice, Piety and Impiety

Ashley Irwin

his position on the much debated question whether virtue can be taught, or whether it comes rather by practice, or else is acquired by ones birth and nature, or in some other way. They dive into the question and Socrates asks Meno, By the gods, what do you yourself say that virtue is? Meno says, It is not hard to tell you, Socrates. First, if you want the virtue of a man, it is easy to say that a mans virtue consists of being able to manage public affairs and in doing so to benefit his friends and harm his enemies and to be careful that no harm comes to himself; if you want the virtue of a woman, it is not difficult to describe: she must manage the home well, preserve its possessions, and be submissive to her husband; the virtue of a child, whether male or female, is different again, and so is that of an elderly man, if you want that, or if you want that of a free man or a slave. And there are very many virtues, so that one is nit at a loss to say what virtue is. There is virtue for every action and every age, for every task of ours and every one of us and, Socrates, the same is true for wickedness.(P.60-61 dialogues) Now, they are looking at not only the general sense of how virtue is acquired, but they are looking at the many virtues there are in life. Again, Socrates uses his method to analyze if there are many virtues and the true definition of virtue itself. At the end of the dialogue they come to the conclusion that, virtue would be neither an inborn quality nor taught, but comes to those who posses it as a gift from the gods which is not accompanied by understanding, unless there is someone among our statesmen who can make another into a statesman. If there were one, he could be said to be among the living as Homer and Tiresias was among the dead, namely, that he alone retained his wits while the others flitted about like shadows. In the same matter such a man would, as far as virtue is concerned, here also be the only true reality compared, as it were, with shadows. With the conclusion of virtue being a gift from the god only to certain people who possesses the correct qualities, we move onto Platos Allegory of the Cave.

The Allegory of Justice, Piety and Impiety

Ashley Irwin

The Allegory of the Cave is not only a metaphor for education but it is also an illustration of Platos theory of Forms and Ideas. The Allegory is a depiction of what a controlled life would be like. The allegory is set in a cavelike dwelling, where human beings have been there since childhood with their necks and legs fettered, so they are fixed in the same place and can only see what is in front of them, and because of being fettered they cannot turn their head around to see what is behind them. The only knowledge they have is what has been shown to them through shadows. There is a fire behind them with puppeteers showing them shadows of animals and other real world objects. Socrates believes that they are like us free human beings. In the sense that we free human beings know nothing more than what we have seen and sensed, and the prisoners can only see and sense what they are shown, which would create true realities for both parties, since they know nothing more than what they have seen. Socrates goes on to say that what if a prisoner gets released into the real world, at first he would not be able to see anything because of the sunlight which he is not accustomed to. He would need time to get adjusted, I suppose, if he is going to see the things in the world above. At first, he would see shadows most easily, then images of men and other things in water, then the things themselves. From these, it would be easier for him to go onto look at the things in the sky and the sky itself at night, gazing at the light of the stars and the moon, then during the day, gazing at the sun and the light of the sun.(P.209 Allegory) Socrates says that after seeing all this wouldnt the prisoner want to go back down in the cave and share his experiences with the other prisoners? He believes that the other prisoners wouldnt believe him and reject him for bringing false ideas to them and trying to convince them they are living a false reality. The allegory is a perfect description of Platos Theory of Forms/ Ideas because the prisoners do not know of the real material world. They only learn and perceive through shadows. The word forms, relates directly to what you perceive

The Allegory of Justice, Piety and Impiety

Ashley Irwin

through senses mainly vision, which is the only sense the prisoners have, next to sound. But because the prisoners are living a false reality, this proves there are some problems with Platos theory. The prisoners do not know a true reality because they have not experienced life outside of the cave. The prisoner who was freed is the perfect counter example to the theory. Since he was set free to experience light, sun, moon, stars, animals, and human interaction, he now knows that life in the cave is not the full truth. So Plato believing that abstract forms and not the material world provides the highest and most fundamental reality, is proven wrong/false by the released prisoner. Justice, piety, and impiety are all abstract forms or ideas that Plato refers to. From what we have learned from the readings, we can conclude that each human being has a different definition of each abstract form. If that is the case, how can Plato justify that these forms are the truest kind of reality that human beings experience, when each individual experiences something different, because they perceive each form or idea differently. Abstract thoughts of love, hate and justice are a part of every humans life. But you cannot go through life floating on those forms. Sometimes the reality is you have bills to pay, a job to work at, and a family to take care of. In a political sense, everyone has a different opinion of justice, so one may believe a criminal deserves the death penalty when another believes he did nothing wrong. Platos theory cannot hold true with these contradicting forms. What appears to hold true back in the day, may not stay true for the current world.

The Allegory of Justice, Piety and Impiety Works Cited

Ashley Irwin

Cooper, John M., G. M. A. Grube, Plato, Plato, Plato, Plato, and Plato. Five Dialogues. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub., 1981. Print. Plato. The Allegory of the Cave. [United States?]: P. & L. Publication, 2010. Print.