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Plato and the Poets

Author(s): Darnell RuckerSource: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Winter, 1966), pp. 167-170Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The American Society for AestheticsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/429388

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2/5

DARNELL

RUCKER

l a t o

n d

t h

o e t s

NEITHER

THE POETS

nor the critics

have ever

forgiven

Plato

for his

censorship

of

poetry

in the

Republic.

Yet the

vituper-

ation

against

Plato on this score

seems,

to

say

the least,

misplaced.

The treatment ac-

corded the artist

in

the

Republic is a rea-

sonable

aspect

of the ideal state

being

con-

structed

there and

a

logical consequence

of Plato's view of the

relations

among

the

good,

the

true,

and the beautiful.

Neither

the

legislator

nor the

philosopher

nor the

poet

has the same role

in

the

Republic

as

he

has in an actual

state;

and these dif-

ferences in

role are

consequent upon

the

difference

between an ideal and

an ac-

tuality.

Take the account

of the

philosopher

in

the

characteristic Socratic

dialogues.

The

philosopher

is a

gadfly pointing

out

what

is

wrong

in his

society;

his

characteristic

activity

is

a

continuing inquiry;

he never

claims

to know

and,

when

questioned,

he

responds

by beginning

a

search.

Socrates'

profession of ignorance is

not a false

hu-

mility

nor a bad

joke

at the expense

of

the

truly

ignorant.

It is a

statement

of

Plato's view of the essential

incomplete-

ness of human knowledge

and it is a

method by

which a

degree

of

knowledge

may be attained.

The idea of the good

is

inexhaustible.

Socrates

does not know

what it

is;

he only knows

a

means

for

approaching

it. And any man who is

sin-

DARNELLRUCKER

s

professor of philosophy

at

Colorado

College,

Colorado Springs. His article,

Man

and Institution: The Moral

Problem, ap-

peared

in

the Western

Humanities

Review

(Summer

1965).

cerely

interested

in

joining

in

the search

can show

Socrates some new

aspect

of the

good

at the same

time

that

Socrates

is

showing

him

something

new.

Every

in-

quiry

starts from a different

perspective

and a

different

problem

than other

in-

quiries,

and thus

every

inquiry

is new in

a

significant

sense.

Why,

then,

is

the

philosopher

in the

Republic

depicted

as the man who

has

knowledge?

On

the face of

it,

this

depic-

tion

goes directly against

almost the

whole

body

of Plato's other works.

But

the ideal state is

specifically

constructed

by

Plato to

produce

knowledge

in the

ablest men of that society so that those

men,

once

they

have

glimpsed

the

good,

can

properly

order the

state,

the

citizens,

and

themselves.

But it is

only

in the ideal

state that the

philosopher

can

take

part

in

politics.1

The

philosopher

in our

world,

as Plato

says

in the

Apology

and Socrates

exemplifies,

must exist

in a

private

sta-

tion. Short of the

institutionalization

of

the

education process

of

the

Republic,

the

philosopher-king could

not hope

for the

necessary

support from

the institutions

and

the

citizens

of

his city.

And that

edu-

cation

process

alone

provides

the

condi-

tions

for the

philosopher's

grasp

of the

idea of

good. The claim

of such

a

grasp

by

a man outside the Republic marks

him

as

an

ignorant

man or a fraud.

Where is the legislator

in

the Republic?

Or

the

judge?

Plato's

reverence for the

laws

is evidenced in many places

in his

other

dialogues.

The

Crito is one of

the

strongest

statements

made

by

a

philoso-


3/5

168

pher

on the

citizen's

obligation

to

the

laws

of

his

state. The Laws

goes

into consider-

able detail about the

framing

and func-

tioning

of laws for a

proposed

state.

Yet,

in

the

Republic,

Socrates brushes aside the

question

of what laws will be needed to

regulate

the relations

among

men with

the

observation

that,

if

these men are

properly

educated

as

citizens,

they

can

regulate

their

own relations

without

need of a network

of

petty

laws.2 Does this mean that

Plato

has

changed

his mind

since

the

Apology

and

then reversed himself

by

the time of

the Laws?

Again,

the

distinction

between

an ideal and an actual state

explains

the

difference

in

perspective.

The

Republic

is a pattern in heaven, an image of ideal

justice

to be found nowhere on

earth,

which is

to

serve as

a

norm

in

our

judg-

ments about

justice

on earth.

In the

same

way,

the role

of

the

poet

must be tailored to the

requirements

of

this

image

of the

ideal

state.

In

other con-

texts,

Plato

speaks

of the

poets

as

divine,

inspired,

wise. Socrates'

typical

reaction

to

a

quotation

from a

respected

poet

is

what

does

it

mean? In Book

I of

the

Republic

(before the construction of the ideal city

begins),

Socrates' conclusion

about the

say-

ing

of Simonides

quoted

by

Polemarchus

is that

they

cannot

attribute Polemar-

chus'

inadequate

definition of

justice

to

the

poet

or

any

other

of the wise and

blessed. 3

The

poets

are

inspired;

God

speaks

through

them. But

like

the

prophe-

cies

of

the

oracles,

the utterances of the

poets

must be

interpreted.

There

is no

impiety

in

Plato's attitude

nor

any

scorn

of the

poets

or oracles. He does

not

ques-

tion the wisdom of the gods; he merely

questions

the

meaning

of the formulations

given

that wisdom

by

the instruments

the

gods

have to use. The

gods

or

the wise

cannot

say

foolish

things.

But if the

poets

are

inspired,

why

does

Plato banish them from the

Republic?

In

the first

place, poets,

as

such,

are not ban-

ished.

Certain kinds of

poetry

will

not be

allowed,

and Homer's and

Hesiod's works

must be the first to

go.

Education

begins

with myths about gods and heroes, and

useful

myths

are tales

which,

while not

literally

true,

are not false.

And all such

DARNELL

RUCKER

dreadful tales of murder and

rape

and

licentiousness

as the

poets

tell

of the

gods

are false-false of

gods,

for

the

gods

are

good.4

If

theology

and

heroic tales are

to

have

any place

in

shaping

the minds of

the

children of Plato's

city,

the

gods

and

heroes

must

be suitable

images.

Then,

though

there are

many

other

things

we

praise

in

Homer,

this

we

will not

applaud.... 5

Poems

must be such that

they

may

serve

as

patterns

for

the

youth

of a

good

city.

And the

gods

and men in Homer and

Hesiod

certainly

provide

no

patterns

for

a

just

and

upright

life.

Homer is the most

poetic

of

poets

and the first

of the

tragedians,

but we must know the

truth,

...

we can admit no

poetry

into our

city

save

only hymns

to the

gods

and

praises

of

good

men.

For if

you

grant

admission to the

honeyed

muse

in

lyric

or

epic, pleasure

and

pain

will be

lords

of

your city

instead of law and that which shall

from time to time have

approved

itself to the

general

reason as the best.'

The

poetry

that

is allowed

must

be con-

ducive to the

end

of the state: the

produc-

tion of

good

men. All

elements

in

the

Re-

public

are directed toward the

shaping

of

its citizens for their

proper

function in

the

state. Plato is

fully

aware

of

the

complexity

and

difficulty

of

education-involving

as

it does the whole

society

as it

impinges

on

the

young.

One discordant element can

wreck

the entire

enterprise.

The ideas con-

tained

in

the

poems taught

the children

affect their

characters;

so do the

rhythms

and

tunes.

Noble men can be

formed

only by

noble themes and

noble harmo-

nies.

Poetry

is, therefore,

central to

the

education of the

citizens,

but

poetry

is

not

an end in itself. Nor is anything else, for

Plato,

short

of the Good.

Censorship

is an

ugly

word,

and not

only

to

poets

and

critics.

We need

to

realize,

however,

that

censorship

in the

world we

inhabit

is

usually

silly

simply

because

we

have no standard of

what

is

allowable.

We

have

nothing

more than

arbitrary

rules

of

exclusion-the

writer

must

not

speak

fa-

vorably

of communism

or

graphically

of

sex,

for instance.

But in a

society

that

produces perverted

minds,

the

artist

does

seem to have

a claim to the

right

to

pro-

duce

art for

those minds.7

Plato

has

a


4/5

Plato

and

the

Poets

standard in the

Republic:

The

guardians

must be

of

a

certain

character if

they

are

to

preserve

the

city,

and the whole

city

has

to

educate the

young

to that

character.

Plato

is

not

concerned in this

dialogue

with

the

warped

characters men

do

have;

he is concerned

with the

kinds of charac-

ters

they

would need in

order to be

just.

Hence

catering

to

perversions

would de-

feat the entire

aim of the

Republic.

But,

once

more,

the

Republic

is not

Athens;

it

exists,

so far as it

does

exist,

in the

minds

of

men as a

guide

and a

goal.

Moreover,

there is not the

same need for

art as a

separate

function

in

the

Republic

that

there is in

less well-ordered

societies.

For us, art functions, at least in part, as a

palliative

and as an

ideal moment in a

frustrating

world. Art

makes life beara-

ble

by

freeing

us

momentarily

from the

impossible

demands and

inevitable

failures

we

face. Art

achieves

a wholeness that is

impossible

for

everyday

experience

and

is

thus

a

solace and a

balm. The

whole-

ness

is

of

some facet of

experience

carved

out of

life,

polished

to

a

shine,

and

dis-

played

in

a

pristine

isolation. The audi-

ence has to supply the connection of the

art

object

to

actual

experience,

and

those

connections are

usually

too

tenuous

to

pro-

vide

more than a

temporarily

efficacious

ideal for

life in its

full

scope

and

disor-

der.

Life

in

the

Republic,

in contrast to

our

actuality,

is

aesthetic

as

well

as moral

and

true.

The

shape

and

tone of the

activities

of

the

citizens at

every

level are such

as to

give

meaning

and

worth and

beauty

to all

men to

whatever

degree

they

are

capable

of

experiencing these things. The Republic

is

an

ideal

but

not

a

utopia precisely

be-

cause its

citizens

are

educated

to

accept

their

powers

and their

limitations

instead

of all

being

transformed

into

angels.8

The

citizen is

educated to

a

comprehension

of

the

social

nature of his

activities and to an

awareness

of the

essential connection

be-

tween those

activities and

his own

being.

Hence

he

is not

subject

to the

frustrations

we

ordinary

men

face. He

has

no

need for

an artificial respite from his life. Education

in

the

Republic

produces

knowledge,

char-

acter,

and

grace

in

the citizens.

Each

man

169

attains that

degree

of

harmony

within

himself

and with

his fellows that he

is

cap-

able of. Grace

characterizes

all

that

the

educated man

is

and

does,

and

conse-

quently

he

does

not have to

look

beyond

his own activities for

those

feelings

and

awarenesses

that art must furnish us be-

cause our lives

are

graceless

and

disor-

dered.

The

hierarchy

of

beautiful

objects,

as

Socrates

quotes

Diotoma

in the

Sympo-

sium,9 runs:

1. One

particular

beautiful

body;

2.

Beauty

of

body

in

general;

3. All beautiful

bodies;

4.

Beauty

of

psyches;

5. Beauty of laws and institutions;

6.

Beauty

of

knowledge;

7.

Beauty

itself.

The

Republic

is

designed

to

construct

beauty

at the fifth

level:

beauty

of

custom

and

action

for

the entire

city.

The

philoso-

pher-king

can

attain the sixth

level,

but,

since

he is

dependent upon

the

city

for

his

being

as

a

philosopher,

he is

obliged

to

maintain his

concern

with the fifth

level

to

the extent

required

to

keep

the

city

functioning smoothly. Art as a distinct

function from

practical

life is at the level

of

somatic

beauty-physical

form.

Physi-

cal

beauty

is not

disregarded

at

the

higher

levels but is

transformed,

put

into

a

new

perspective,

transcended.

Alcibiades in

the

Symposium

depicts

Socrates

as

the

para-

digm

of

beauty

at the fourth

level,

be-

cause

Socrates'

ugliness

of

body

is but

the

outer

shell

concealing

the

beauty

of

his

soul

which fills

Alcibiades

with

awe and

forces

upon

him

the

realization of

the

triviality of his own physical beauty.

The

contrast between

Alcibiades

and

Socrates

makes clear

the

instability

of

the

beauty

of soul.

Alcibiades,

the

most

beau-

tiful

man

in

all

Hellas,

recognizes

the

superior beauty

of

Socrates,

but Alcibiades

himself is

continually

seduced and

ruined

by

the

disorderly

elements of

the

political

systems

he inhabits.

Socrates is

a

happy

ac-

cident-a man with

remarkable

physical

and mental

powers, shaped by

the best

forces at work in Athens, and driven by

the sense of

a divine

mission. But

the

rulers

of

Athens have

neither the

knowl-


5/5

170

edge

nor

the

education

system

to

produce

good

men

deliberately.

The

nurturing

of

the natural

capacities

of men

requires

the

Republic

and its well-ordered

institutions

-institutions with the

purpose

and

the

means of

producing

beautiful

characters

and actions.

There

physical

beauty-na-

tural or

artificial-is

not a

separate

con-

sideration;

it

is a

concomitant

of the

de-

velopment

of well-ordered

psyches

in

a

well-ordered state. If all men were

capable

of

becoming philosophers,

the

beauty

of

institutions

could become a

secondary

matter;

but this would

require

a

utopian

revolution in

the nature

and situation of

man. And were

it

conceivable

that

men

became gods, the contemplation of beauty

itself would make

philosophy

as

we know

it

trivial

by comparison.

The

primary

aesthetic concern of the

ideal

city-inhabited

by

men,

not

just

by

philosophers-is

with

the

moral-political

structure

of the

society.

Plato has built

for

us a

model

in

view

of which we can

gauge

our own

societies. We

always

fall short of

the

model,

since

it is an

ideal,

but the

ideal

provides

a

goal,

useful to

us

insofar

as we see the range of divergences of our

situation from that

of

the

Republic.

Plato

does

not

denigrate

art as such-

only

art

(or knowledge

or

character)

which

claims

to be more than it is.

Ignorance

is

failure to

recognize

the limitations

of

whatever skills or

opinions

or

inspirations

one

may

be fortunate

enough

to have

(as

Socrates

says

in

the

Apology

and

demon-

strates

in other

dialogues).

Socrates does

not

attack

Ion's

ability

as a

rhapsode

in

the

Ion;

he attacks Ion's claim to knowl-

edge of the topics of his recitations. So

long

as the

poet

makes

no

claim to

knowl-

edge

of those

things

he is

inspired

to

say

(or make),

Plato

has

no

quarrel

with

him

as a

poet.

The

poem

itself remains a mat-

ter for

interpretation

and

acceptance

or

rejection

in accordance with the standard

of

the wise

man.

Art that

degrades

man

is,

of

course,

a

constant

target

of

Plato's

arguments.

The

DARNELL RUCKER

empty

rhetoric Meno and

Phaedrus

ad-

mire and

the

clever

sophistry Protagoras

practices

do not

produce beauty

or knowl-

edge,

because,

while

they profess

to

be

concerned with beauty of soul, they are

really

concerned with

the

physical-

money,

power,

sex.

Thus,

as

arts,

they

are

frauds and

despoilers

of

men.

That

which

works for

increased

har-

mony

and

integrity

for

a man

attracts

his

love

by

its

beauty,

satisfies his

needs

by

its

goodness,

and

becomes

the

ground

for

further

progress

by

its truth. We

com-

partmentalize

art and

ethics

and

science

because we

only

see

things

in

bits and

pieces. Plato tried hard to make us see

things

whole.

The artist

has no

call to

feel

any

more

put

down

by

this

attempt

than do

the

rest

of

men.

We

are

all

struggling

in a

more or

less

chaotic en-

tanglement

with

ourselves

and

others.

Plato's work

exemplifies

more

nearly

than

any

other

we

have the

oneness of

the

true,

the

good,

and the

beautiful.

And

while,

like

the sun in

his

cave

analogy,

his work

is not itself

vision,

by

its

aid,

if we

have

eyes, we may be able to see.

1

The

Republic,

trans.

Paul

Shorey (Loeb

Classi-

cal

Library),

592B.

a

Ibid.

425B-427C.

3Ibid.

336A.

'Cf. the

quotation

by

Aristotle:

bards tell

many

a

lie,

Metaphysics

I.

2.

983a. 5.

6

The

Republic

38SB.

6

Ibid.

607A.

7Again,

cf.

Aristotle:

A man

receives

pleasure

from what is

natural

to

him,

and

therefore

pro-

fessional musicians may be allowed to practise this

lower sort of music

before an

audience

of a lower

type.

But,

for the

purposes

of

education,

as I

have

already

said,

those modes and

melodies

should be

employed

which are

ethical....

Politics

VIII. 7.

1342a.

25-30.

8

The

stir Socrates

makes over the

golden

lie re-

quired

to

get

men to

accept

the hard

truth of dif-

ferences

in

ability

is

Plato's

acknowledgement

of the

major

difficulty

of this

problem.

9

Trans. W.

R.

M.

Lamb

(Loeb

Classical

Library),

210B.

rucker - plato and the poets

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