in book 10 of Plato's Republic Socrates

banishes all artists from his ideal

state he argues that the creations of

art are farthest removed from the truth

and therefore art turns the mind of the

spectator away from truth and toward the

realm of becoming for example there are

several instances of tables in the world

but only one idea of a table a table

maker can make a table but he cannot

make the idea of a table even farther

removed from the true idea of a table

then the table of a table maker is the

painting of a table tables then are of

three kinds and there are three artists

whose superintend them God the maker of

the table and the painter in addition to

artists Socrates intends to banish poets

to like artists poets only imitate

imitations of the truth they are twice

removed from the realm of Bing and they

corrupt all those who read and listen to

their works

a poet such as Homer might present the

courage of Achilles but Homer does not

know courage itself in other words he

does not know how to be courageous or

how to teach others to be courageous if

Homer had really been able to educate

and improve mankind if he had possessed

knowledge and not been a mere imitator

he would be interested in realities and

not in imitations and instead of being

the author of Inco memes he would prefer

to be the theme of them I disagree with

Socrates in regards to homers ability to

educate and improve mankind homers

depiction of the Trojan War and of

Odysseus is return home has inspired

many generations men have admired the

warrior virtues of Achilles and sought

to emulate him on the battlefield women

have revered Odysseus's wife Penelope as

the epitome of marital fidelity

Socrates's assertion that Homer did not

teach virtue is nonsense

modern academics named the virtues of

the heroes in the Iliad and the Odyssey

after Homer the virtues of power

strength bravery and cleverness are

Homeric virtues despite this slight

objection Socrates makes a compelling

argument that poetry feeds and waters

the passion

instead of drying them up she lets them

rule although they ought to be

controlled if mankind is ever to

increase in happiness and virtue for

example when we watch a troupe of actors

perform a tragedy on the stage we

delights in giving way to sympathy the

more we cry over the miseries of the

actors the more we enjoy the performance

yet when any tragedy befalls us we take

pride in the very opposite response we

would fain be quiet and patient this is

the manly part and the other which

delighted us in the tragic performance

is now deemed to be the part of a woman

thus Socrates argues that watching

tragedy renders us unable to deal with

misfortune when it befall z-- us because

tragedy trains us to become excessively

emotional this argument is interesting

because it directly contradicts

Aristotle's argument in the poetics that

tragedy purges the audience of fear and

pity rather than strengthens these

emotions I agree with Aristotle the more

one experiences and observes tragedy the

more one becomes desensitized to it

after banishing the artists and poets

from his ideal State Socrates moves the

conversation to the topic of the

afterlife he argues that the soul is

immortal because neither good nor evil

can destroy it too elaborate there are

good things and evil things in the world

good things save and improve bad things

corrupt and destroy moderate consumption

of food and water is good in relation to

the body because it preserves and

improves the body disease and injury are

evil in relation to the body because it

corrupts and destroys the body in

relation to the soul virtue is good and

vices evil but no soul has ever died

from vice and therefore Socrates

concludes that the soul is immortal it

the soul is immortal where does it go

after the death of the body

Socrates answers this question by

telling a story about a man who died

traveled to the underworld and returned

to life the story is very similar to

Dante's Divine Comedy the man in the

story sees a judge condemning wicked

souls to a hell-like underworld

and permitting just souls to enter a

heavenly paradise after spending 1,000

years in either heaven or hell the souls

choose another earthly body to inhabit

some unwisely choose the lives of

tyrants others choose the lives of

animals because they experienced much

misery at the hands of their fellow men

and now they detest human nature but the

wisest Souls choose lives of moderation

that are free from cares luxuries and

wickedness

thus Socrates always returns to the

consideration of how one ought to live

his discussions regarding forms of

government art poetry music etc served

to illuminate the best way of life at

the end of Plato's Republic he concludes

that the just life is the best life this

must be our notion of the just man that

even when he is in poverty or sickness

or any other seeming misfortune all

things will in the end work together for

good to him in life and death for the

gods have a care of anyone whose desire

is to become just and to be like God by

the pursuit of virtue this concludes our

presentation of Plato's Republic I hope

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