Reflections on Utopia after Reading 1
The Republic is the representative work of Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher, expounding his political philosophy, the pioneering work of western political philosophy, and one of the classic works with far-reaching influence in the history of western thought. The book is rich in content, involving politics, philosophy, ethics and other fields. Many scholars metaphorically say that it is a book that can be studied for life. Every chapter in the book is full of Plato's philosophical wisdom and expresses his ideal political kingdom. Everyone has his own feelings when reading The Republic. A thousand readers have a thousand Hamlets. The first time I read this book, I was deeply impressed by the concepts and expositions of justice, city-state construction and political system.
At the beginning of this book, we discuss what justice is, the justice of the city-state and the justice of the individual. Many scholars, such as Socrates and Fallows, have had a fierce confrontation on what is the form of justice. Socrates put forward different opinions on "justice is the interest of the strong" and refuted them, thus putting forward the concept of justice. Plato thus extended the justice of polis. He believes that justice is the first principle of an ideal city-state, and defines the city-state as "everyone must perform a duty that is most in line with his nature in the country" or "everyone should do his own work as a person and not interfere in the work of others". Everyone should obey polis justice, and individual justice should give way to polis justice. From Plato's definition of justice, we can see whether his so-called polis is fair, democratic and equal for all. His city-state is that everyone has a corresponding rank and position, divided into rulers, soldiers and laborers. Therefore, his so-called justice is that "it is the responsibility to defend the soil and perform their duties." At the same time, he thinks that only a just city-state is an ideal city-state, and puts forward that building an ideal city-state needs three stages: one is the producer stage; The second is the helper stage; The third is the ruler stage.
Plato also put forward the view that "a politician should be the king of philosophy". He thinks that in an ideal city-state, a knowledgeable philosopher should be the ruler, and he calls it "the king of philosophy". Plato believes that only politicians and philosophers can understand what is true justice and keep the country in order. Plato expounded what is an unjust city-state and an unjust people, and separated the political system from history and reality. He divided the political system into five types, namely, king's political system, democratic political system, tyrant's political system, oligarchy's political system and tyrant's political system. This paper discusses in detail the reasons for the changes and the formation process of the last four political systems, and thinks that these four political systems are unfair, so it is concluded that the political system ruled by the king of philosophy is just, so he thinks that the best political system is the political system ruled by the king of philosophy. The king of philosophy is a politician with wiser political ideas than ordinary people. The mission of various philosophies is to establish polis, promulgate laws and manage polis. Plato's thought is mainly restricted by historical and social conditions, and he can't get rid of its bondage. It is reasonable to understand his thoughts from this aspect through the philosophy king, a perfect politician, ruling the country by virtue, but there is no such perfect person in reality, so his dream is an ideal, even an unattainable dream.
The Republic is regarded as the first political science work in the west. Plato expounded the main political themes such as justice, city-state and regime, and painted an ideal portrait of a political king, which has the color of utopia and the taste of class state and has a great influence on western politics. By studying this book, I have a preliminary understanding of Plato's thoughts, and I will continue to study Plato's related works and study western political thoughts in depth in the future.
Reflection on Utopia II
Socrates and Glaucon finished offering sacrifices to the goddess in Piraeus port and were preparing to return to Athens. The following are my reading notes for the Republic. Welcome to reading. For more exciting content, please pay attention to the study abroad network.
Plato's Republic is not only the pioneering work of western political philosophy, but also one of the classic works in the history of western thought. It is rich, all-encompassing and profound. However, the humanities and social sciences can not be traced back to this point, and the book involves many problems in politics, philosophy, ethics, theology, aesthetics, education and other fields. Therefore, if you want to enter the door of western learning and find a strange Range Rover, the Republic is the first choice. The Chinese version of this book is the best one published by the Commercial Press, and the English version is the Republic in the original series of Cambridge History of Political Thought, which is the most fluent and should be a treasure for those who are not familiar with ancient Greek.
Cut short the nonsense and return to one's muttons. Socrates and Glaucon finished offering sacrifices to the goddess in Piraeus port and were preparing to return to Athens. Polemahoz and Glaucon's brother Ademantos kept them and came to Polemahoz's house. All the debates about "justice" in the first volume were held there. First of all, Socrates communicated with Kay fallows, the father of Polemajos, about the rich life of the elderly with wealth, which triggered a discussion about "justice". Fallows believes that justice means "honesty" and "paying off debts". This debate is not deep enough. Polje Mayoz stood up to defend his father, but only insisted that "paying off debts" was justice, and further developed "justice" into a spiritual realm comparable to that of Comrade Lei Feng-as warm as spring to friends and as warm as autumn wind to enemies. Second, Máthōs, an "angry youth", was dissatisfied with Su and Bo's "echoing each other and flattering each other", which triggered a heated debate between him and Socrates. Máthōs believes that "justice is the interest of the strong", and the strong never make mistakes. Hehe, this sophistry and angry young man has a certain meaning of "might is truth". Socrates refuted the so-called "skill" through analysis, thinking that it is to make the benefits reach the target, not to benefit the executors themselves. Sarasu Máthōs also objected to this, thinking that the shepherd is not good for the sheep, but for the shepherd's own interests, and thus concluded: "Justice is actually good for the strong, when justice is good for one's own." That is, openly clamoring-the just, the benefit of the strong; If you do more injustice, you will get something. It seems that political immoral people have existed since ancient times, and the initiator must be this "angry youth"! Machiavelli in the Renaissance and legalists in China, such as Shen, Shen, Shang and Han, should worship Salahma as their ancestors. Finally, the clever Socrates finally persuaded the rude Salahus Máthōs and reluctantly accepted the view that it is better to live a just life than an unjust one for three reasons: first, just people are smart and kind, while unjust people are evil and ignorant; Second, the unjust are upset and unable to act effectively; Third, just people are happier than unjust people.
What we should pay attention to is that from Socrates' initial forced detention to the debate, the topic of the debate also changed with the questioner's traction, and it was not until the end of the first volume that we were told what "justice" was. We are not satisfied with this ending, but are Socrates' disciples satisfied? What is justice? Does Socrates have an answer? Can the second volume reveal the mystery? Let's wait and see.
Reflections on Utopia 3
"Books are the ladder of human progress" is really true. A good book can make people understand a lot of truth. A good book can make people fall into deep meditation. Every time you finish reading a good book, you will be suddenly enlightened. It is books that have made mankind climb the ladder of progress, which has led to today's thriving world. This book, a silent prophet, predicted the future and China's dream. The post-reading feeling column of the study abroad network provides you with the latest and most comprehensive post-reading feeling template, so that you can write your post-reading feeling quickly. This column contains Chinese and foreign classic model essays and the latest excellent reading feelings, hoping to help you!
As one of the most influential philosophers in the west and even in the world, Plato wrote countless works in his life, and the Republic is undoubtedly one of the works that can best express his political thoughts. The so-called utopia is a country full of justice and virtue inferred by Plato. This country consists of three classes: the legislative ruler, the national guard and the ordinary working people. The core idea of the book is that philosophers should be politicians and politicians should be philosophers. Philosophers should not be useless nerds hiding in ivory towers, but should apply what they have learned, practice their internal skills and seize power. Politicians should be full of yearning for philosophy, constantly pursue their own philosophical progress, and manage the people with philosophical thoughts. The purpose of an ideal country is to create a country with perfect order, beauty and justice. Around this goal, Plato began to discuss what is a just country and what is justice.
Plato first asked all kinds of people around him. Some people said: Justice means paying off debts. Others say: Justice is the interest of the strong. Plato's discussion of justice begins with the distinction between city-state justice and individual justice. When discussing justice in ancient Greece, they all regarded it as a personal virtue, which was one of the four virtues (justice, wisdom, courage and temperance) that were generally valued at that time. Plato thinks that personal virtue belongs to the microscopic world, which is abstract and difficult to explain, and needs to be explained by an obvious and macroscopic thing. Plato's method of argument takes polis as an example, and expounds individual justice by expounding polis justice. He believes that true justice is not manifested in the external polis as "each doing his own thing", but in the people themselves as "each doing his own thing". In other words, just people are not allowed to interfere with each other and play the role of other parts of the soul. If he wants to arrange his own affairs, he must first dominate himself, be orderly inside himself and be friendly to himself. Injustice should be a struggle between the three parts, meddling with each other and interfering with each other. Some souls rise up against the whole soul in an attempt to gain a leading position inside.
Reflections on Utopia 4
Socrates had a fierce confrontation with fallows, Polje Máthōs, Salahmas and other wise men. The following are my reading notes for the utopia. Welcome to reading. For more exciting content, please pay attention to the study abroad network.
The Republic is a magnificent masterpiece interwoven with philosophical thoughts and political ideals. No wonder in a debate class, when I mentioned that this book could not be finished in one semester, Mr. Shen Youjun added that it was a great book and I would never be able to read it thoroughly. It is full of philosophical wisdom and the essence of political thought, and embodies the ideal that Plato pursued all his life: "A politician should be a philosopher, a philosopher should be a politician, and a politician should be the king of philosophy".
In the Republic, the focus of discussion is the philosophy of justice. Socrates had a fierce confrontation with fallows, Polje Máthōs, Salahmas and other wise men. They successively discussed the viewpoints that "paying debts is justice", "justice is to give everyone proper rewards", "justice is good for friends and bad for enemies" and "justice is the interests of the strong". Socrates refuted them one by one and finally got the real concept of justice. However, the article does not only focus on the discussion of individual justice, Plato actually focuses on the justice of the city-state. In The Republic, Plato believed that justice was the principle of an ideal city-state, and summarized this principle of justice as: "Everyone must fulfill an obligation that is most in line with his nature in the country", or "Everyone should do his duty as a human being and not interfere with others' obligations", that is, keep the contract and do his duty. Of course, Plato's polis is not the so-called equality of all beings, but a country where everyone is equal without class and oppression. His so-called polis is hierarchical, that is, the polis is divided into rulers, soldiers and laborers. The so-called "doing one's duty, doing one's duty" means that rulers, soldiers and laborers perform their duties and do not overstep each other. At the same time, there is the idea of harmonious division of labor and mutual assistance and cooperation. Justice of polis is the standard of Plato's utopia. Without the justice of the city-state, utopia will become a so-called castle in the air. Perhaps this kind of "keeping one's duty and doing one's duty" is incompatible with the equality and freedom advocated by everyone at present, and there may be a color of autocracy and autocracy. However, there is specialization in the art, and a person's life is limited. It is impossible to exhaust all knowledge, and he can only make achievements in the fields he is interested in and dedicated to. For example, let Einstein paint oil paintings and Beethoven make inventions, which will slide to the world.
How did Plato establish the idea that politicians should be the king of philosophy? According to historical data, Plato should have experienced the decline of Athenian democracy after his teacher died.
A budding politician should be the "king of philosophy". During the period of 12, he traveled to realize his ideal regime, Achtos, the leader of local democratic regime and the main representative of Pythagoras school. He met him during his visit to Tarantamu and brought the prototype of reality to his ideal of "the king of philosophy". Aqitai himself is not only an outstanding politician and military commander, but also an outstanding thinker, and is supported and loved by the local people. He is a pioneer of many intellectual groups, and his personality has made considerable contributions to mathematics and mechanics. Under the leadership of Aqitai, Tarantamu promoted a moderate democracy with political stability, economic development and cultural progress. Plato was deeply impressed by Taranta's political system and Achitai's personality and knowledge. It can be said that the communication and friendship between Plato and Aqitai further strengthened his belief in the "king of philosophy" and Plato's persistent pursuit of an ideal regime. Only when a politician is a philosopher can he truly understand what is true justice, how to make the governance of the country more coordinated and orderly, and how to make the people live and work in peace and contentment better. The country led by the king of philosophy is governed by sages, virtue and intellectual dictatorship. The responsibilities of the king of philosophy have also been preliminarily determined, namely, establishing city-states, making laws and supervising education. In a debate class, Yang said that it is not advisable for a politician to be the king of philosophy. I think it is desirable, but it is basically impossible in reality. It is a distant dream for a politician to be a philosopher, that is, the "king of philosophy", and it is only an aesthetic ideal. A country can have several pure philosophers with real interests. Even if such people really exist, how many people have real political talents to save the country? Then again, philosophers are more arrogant and can't tolerate the filth of the world. Whether they can survive in the political environment first and then transform it is another question. Moreover, even if such people really exist, can they really be elected? At present, the democratic situation is still not satisfactory to us, let alone electing a philosophical king. Will ordinary people buy it? Can they understand? The ideal is always beautiful, but it may be greatly discounted when it comes to reality. However, it is impossible for a person or a country to have no real ideal, otherwise, as small as a national people's congress, as large as a country, it will lose the direction of forging ahead. Therefore, only when a country walks on the road with this dream will it not stagnate and lose the course of struggle!
Plato's Republic has been published for thousands of years, but it is still the focus of discussion. It has led an ideological trend of what kind of country to build and how to govern the country more effectively, which can be described as a great contribution!
Reflections on Utopia 5
Emerson, a famous American thinker, once said, "Plato is philosophy, and philosophy is that Plato burned all the libraries, because its value lies in this book (Republic)." Perhaps Emerson's words are exaggerated, but we have to admit that the weight of the Republic is really important in our human history. As the saying goes, "Plato is famous for his utopia, which is famous for his thoughts."
Plato divided the country into three classes in his book: the ruling class with strict philosophy education, the warrior class to defend the country, and the civilian class. He believes that the ruler of an ideal country must be a philosopher, and the essence of a philosopher is knowledge, wisdom, justice and kindness. Therefore, the concept of "justice" is particularly important in the book. In addition, justice has always been an extremely important part in the history of human philosophy. For example, Rawls, one of the most important philosophers in the United States and even the West in the 20th century, also wrote A Theory of Justice, expounding the essence of Rawls' justice thought. Therefore, I choose to analyze this part about "justice" in the Republic in my thesis.
Starting with the discussion of justice, the book successively refutes the views that "paying debts is justice", "justice is the interests of the strong" and "the essence of justice is the compromise between the best and the worst", and puts forward the knowledge that "justice is the virtue of the soul" and "the just is happy". But these have not been fully recognized by everyone. Later, Glaucon and others begged Socrates to get to the bottom of it and find out what the essence of justice and injustice is and what their real interests are. So Plato abandoned the method of looking for justice only from individuals and expected to find justice from the "capitalized people" of the country, thus "seeing the big from the small"
I think the main analysis is that Plato leads to the theme of "justice" throughout the book in the form of debate. That is, "the debate on justice." Generally speaking, this part of Plato borrowed the dialogue between his teacher Socrates and others, and gradually led the theme of "justice" from the old man's later life to the problem of life.
At the beginning of the article, Socrates led us to a question: "What kind of life is happy and meaningful?" This seems to have nothing to do with the full text, but it is precisely Plato's ingenious design. He led people to think about life and life through fallows's outlook on life. It does not mean that readers simply accept the author's ideas, but at the beginning of the full text, guide readers to think independently or think with the author. After that, Socrates and Coe fallows began to discuss the problem of money. They finally agreed that money is not necessarily happiness. This truth is also very clear to us today. It is often emphasized that money and happiness are not directly proportional. Money is not everything. You can't buy many things. But in fact, sometimes many people in reality slowly forget this truth. Many corrupt officials are like this.
Socrates and Fallows began to talk about life and wealth in their later years. It seems to be just a courtesy conversation, but it contains many profound meanings. At this point, Socrates shifted the topic to the main line of the whole paper-"justice". This relaxed and euphemistic transfer just shows Plato's brilliance. The wisdom of the wise is often reflected in every detail. When I first read The Republic, I was surprised by the unique dialogue style in the book. But now I think this writing format may be another genius of Plato. It must be said that dialogue gives us a feeling of personal experience, and perhaps this way can understand the author's point of view more vividly and simply.