CENSORSHIP IN PLATO’S REPUBLIC: A CRITICAL APPRAISAL

A PRESENTATION BY J.I. ABAH

1. BRIEF INTRODUCTION
The term censorship which has its root from the word censor literally means “a person
whose job is to examine books, films/movies etc. and remove parts which are considered
to be offensive, immoral or a political threat.” Plato whose terminus a quo was to give a
vivid definition of justice to his interlocutors on the cause of deciphering what justice is
brought in the idea of censorship. For Plato the city can only produce a reputable
guardian when the tales of their time must have been censored. It is the aim of this work
to explore Plato’s idea of censorship, its implication in Nigeria situation and critically
examine the strengths and weaknesses of Plato’s idea of censorship.
Oxford Advanced learners’ Dictionary, 7 th Edition. P. 226
1. PLATO’S IDEA OF CENSORSHIP
The Greek people have basically two forms of education “…gymnastic training understood generally as physical condition for
the body and music education for the soul.” For Plato soul is the essential form of a being and whatever happens to man’s soul
happens to man in totality. For the city to have a magnificent guardian his soul must be well formed through education. But the
education needed here is not gymnastic but music which concerns itself with soul formation of man. It is also good to
understand that Greek music education is not restricted to our present day idea of music which includes mainly “rhythm,
harmony and melody” but also includes speeches, or poetry and literature, as well.” It is from these components of music
education that one sees the import and reasons why Plato advocated for censorship. Plato who ab nitio divided human beings
into strata, believed that from birth one can either be a ruler-guardian, guardian (soldier) or an artisan. Socrates and his
interlocutors agreed that “the young are so impressionable; they should not be allowed to hear just any stories.” It suffices to say
that censorship for Plato begins with “tales told to children.”
Now the pertinent question comes to mind, why did Plato centre censorship on tales or stories? A popular aphorism has it that
what makes a man is the type of books he reads and the type of friends he keeps. Invariably the type of tales that the guardian
hears forms his soul either for good or for bad.
Before Plato’s idea of censorship so many things have been said about the gods which portray the gods very cruel, unruly and
obnoxious. The idea of life after death has been treated with disdain and horror. And finally the stories of heroic men are not
portrayed to be praise worthy. Therefore, Plato gives one of the reasons for censorship of tales as “because those who believe
that the gods do all manner of injustice to each other will not think such actions unworthy of themselves.” In other words “the
city in speech , the just city requires a regime of censorship or public control of speech and artistic expression.”
Plato went further to concentrate himself with the models that will regulate “both substance and style both what is said and how
it is said.” On the levels of the substance the tales which should be censored are the depiction of the gods, the afterlife and the
depiction of the heroic human beings of the past.
K. L. Deutsh and J. R. Fornieri, An Invitation to Political Thought, (Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth, 2009), P.11
P.13
Loc.cit.
Loc.cit
Loc.cit.
Loc.cit.
Loc.cit.
2.1. CENSORSHIP ON THE DEPICTION OF THE GODS

 Plato strongly maintained that ‘stories must not depict the divine as the source of evil.” Any story that has this type of
information must be discarded, or in our contemporary term banned. For Plato the gods are the source and summit of
what is good. Evil cannot be attributed to the gods. If the gods that give existence to man and all other things are to be
seen as evil then man has no need to reproach himself of the evil that he does. For Plato even when the gods are seen
as giving punishment to men the story should be modified in a manner that will portray the gods as seeking for the
best form of life for man.
 On the second note “they agreed that the gods must not be shown as changing their form or deceiving human beings
by false appearances.” For Plato he believed that the gods are not in process. They are full actualities that lack
potency. Therefore, to depict gods in different tales as having or acquiring different forms is to posit gods as false and
deceptive beings. For Plato human beings may have good reasons to deceive one another for instance “when one
needs to defend oneself from an enemy or protect a friend from his own foolishness or insanity” but that shouldn’t be
said of gods who are perfect and all good.
 P.13
 Loc.cit
 Ibid. P. 14
2.2. CENSORSHIP ON TALES OF AFTERLIFE

 From this point of view it concerns mainly the warriors (soldiers). For Plato “they must
fear defeat in battle more than they fear death, and consequently the afterlife must not
be presented as a place of horrors.” To further on this he said “for the decent man…
being dead is not a terrible thing.” That is to say honourable death in discharging one’s
duty is actually victorious and laudable but cowardice in discharging one’s duty is
horror therefore, he summarized that “the just city will depict the afterlife as something
fearful for those who are bad.”
 Loc.cit
 Loc.cit
 Loc. Cit.
 2.3. CENSORSHIP ON TALES OF HEROIC MEN

 This aspect is closely related with that of afterlife thus “such men, they hold
will not be shown as grieving excessively for their dead comrades, behavior
that is evidently incompatible with the discipline of a good soldier, who must
fight on in defense of the city even when his fellows fall in battle.” The story
of a heroic man should be displayed as being at peace with the gods for
having fought the good fight but where reverse is the case Plato said it must
be removed (censored). In the words of Plato “good man is most of all
sufficient unto himself for living well and , in contrast to others, has least
need of another.”
 Loc.cit.
 Loc.cit.
PLATO’S CENSORSHIP AND NIGERIAN SITUATION

 No need to deny the fact that Nigeria has the aforementioned body or institution we
have been discussing so far. There is a censoring body in the area of Arts and
Literature, and there is another body in the area of Movie/Film industries. But the
question is, to what extent have they carried out their duty? To what extent have
they understood the imperative of their function? What improvement have they made
in censoring department? Is Plato totally right in what he posited about censorship?
These and many more questions come up when we begin to incorporate Plato’s idea
of censorship into Nigeria situation.
 1. CENSORSHIP OF LITERATURE IN NIGERIA

Whether we like it or not man is majorly what he reads. The ideas we get through books form us either directly or indirectly. If this happens to
every man what becomes the fate of the young ones? With the type of literature that is produced these days in Nigeria how far is it going to help
in advancing intellectual credibility in Nigerian students?

When I talk about literature I mean the novels, the poems, letters, magazines etc. that has to do with murdering of morality and advancement of
secularization and unnecessary liberalism. It marvels me when a literature has its content as lecture on how to have sex, on how to engage on
successful criminal operations such as kidnapping , bank robbery, rape, murder etc. what does these do to our young generation kids? You think it
does them good? Not at all, it mars and affects them negatively. Now comes the question, who sanction the selling of such materials? Or doesn’t
the literary work pass through the censoring body? The answer is obvious, first, the work passed through the censoring body but they are not
interested to know the content of the work. Again, once the writer of the work is able to cooperate in Nigeria normal way then what prohibits the
passing of the work? This point brings us to the conclusion that even the censoring body is to be censored! The worst corruption is the corruption
of the best. Clearly put is not every literary work has the right or qualifies to be a public consumption, worst making its content available to our
young kids.

In an organized country where censorship is what is suppose to be which is realizable in Nigeria, works that move young kids into critical inquiry,
advancement, invention, manipulation of the material or matter in the world for public good is what is encouraged. Why should Nigeria case be
different?

Uncensored literary works have led many young people into heinous acts such as cultism, sexual immorality, etc. I hereby advocate that
censorship is part and parcel of a good city in speech. And the body that does that function should rise up to their expectations, redefine and
rediscover their function and follow it as supposed.
CENSORSHIP OF MOVIE IN NIGERIA
1. CENSORSHIP OF MOVIE IN NIGERIA
Movie/film industry is another trending industry that has wrongly influenced our young children. The
epistemology of the empiricists has its locus standi on the fact that knowledge comes solely from
experience, what I see. Some other proponents have it that seeing is believing. This goes a long way to
tell us how we are formed and influenced based on what we see. Today in Nigeria the best selling
movie is not based on the content of morality it inculcates in the citizens of the nation but is based on
the nudity rate of the movie. The higher the nudity content the higher the sales, this is clearly moral
decadence. The censoring body that permits the availability of these movies should be queried, so that
they clearly define their objectives and aims for allowing such. Movies that are made for corrupting the
minds of the citizens and for personal aggrandizement of the producer do not merit public consumption!
Movie should have a direction and aim which must be morally geared towards and free from demonic
manipulations. The obvious provocative attire that our young boys and girls put on nowadays, most of
them are imitations from movie industry. The point here is that our inability to censor properly the type
of movie that merits universal acceptance has done more harm than good to our young youths. And it is
only when the body in charge rise up to their expectation, moral decadence will continue to thrive.
CENSORSHIP OF MUSIC IN NIGERIA
1. CENSORSHIP OF MUSIC IN NIGERIA
Music as a matter of fact depicts a particular thing to a particular set of people who are inclined to that music. When
understood from this angle one discovers that music can be occult, sensual, voluptuous, worshipful etc. in nature.
Invariable it can lead to moral or immoral formation of those who listen to it. Can we boast of any popular music in
Nigeria that its central theme is not worship of a beautiful girl that will eventual end in sexual intercourse? This is what
we have today as music. This is what we celebrate in the music industry. The authentic music of artists such as Mrs.
Obassi, Oliver de conque, Osadebe etc. have gone into extinction. And I am regarded as an archaic and conservative
person for mentioning these persons now. No matter how you see it the point still remains in the domain of morality no
compromise is required. Morality is the life wire of an ideal state and should be sought for by all means that is good. So,
there should be proper censorship in music industry in Nigeria because if things continue to go the way they are now in
the nearest future morality will be a fairy tale in Nigeria.
CENSORSHIP ON NIGERIAN GUARDIANS
(DEFENSE INSTITUTION)
3.4 CENSORSHIP ON NIGERIAN GUARDIANS (DEFENSE INSTITUTION)

Plato captures this aspect clearly when he said that soldiers should fear defeat more than they fear
death. Can this be said of Nigeria defense institutions such as army, police, navy etc.? In Nigeria
what we experience is situation whereby death is horror while defeat is intelligence. You will
understand this well when you alert the police of any robbery attack in your place. They will never
arrive until one hour after the whole show they will surface and in their normal broken English they
will ask wey ….dem…..wey dem….! Defense of a nation is defense of self. The society exists only
when the different parastatals are carrying out their duties effectively. I propose that before one
passes the screening for admission into any force agency in Nigeria let the right information about his
service to the nation be clearly defined t the individual. The lack of commitment we experience from
the force department is because right information was not given from the onset. Many entered there
with distorted mindset of amassing wealth etc.

Again, Plato talked about depicting the story of heroic men as being at peace with the gods. It is
crystal clear that we celebrate what does not deserve celebration and relegate that which deserves
celebration. How often do we remember our military men who die in war-front in collision with Boko
haram sect? it doesn’t matter, so it becomes very difficult for them to develop a long lasting
steadfastness and commitment towards their work. We will not celebrate them but we have time to
celebrate lazy youths in BBNaija! What a nation without a goal!!!
 CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF PLATO’S IDEA OF CENSORSHIP
1. CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF PLATO’S IDEA OF CENSORSHIP
I wish to state that Plato’s idea of censorship is highly encompassing such that it has both positive and negative connotations. It is a dipolar
argument that places one in a tight corner as regards taking sides.
When Plato talked about censoring tales about gods- if his idea of gods is equivalent to present day God, then I agree with him that God is all
good and cannot be the source of evil. But on the other hand doesn’t that put a question mark on the omnipotence of God? This is because
when we say that God can do all things both good and evil are inclusive. But when you say God cannot do evil “cannot” is already a limitation
to his omnipotence. But irrespective of the above critic the omnipotence of God is to be understood in his infinite power in doing well and not in
doing bad.
Plato condemned some of the tales of Homer because they did not represent the gods well therefore they should be censored. But it is clear to
us that Homer represented their personal experience with their gods. When the gods portrayed themselves to be evil Plato wanted Homer to
dive into noble lie. But can there be a qualification to lie? Lie is lie whether told by a black or a white. So, if censorship for Plato means
manipulation of the truth just to favour the gods it is highly non sequitor.
Plato went further to say that the gods should not be depicted as changing. If his gods equals Christian God- also scripturally it is written Christ
is the same, yesterday, today and forever. Also, the scripture has it that God does not change. But on the second note who has actually seen
the nature of God to be able to state categorically that God doesn’t change or that God changes? From the above we may conclude that
whether God changes or not it lies on individual opinion of people just as Plato and
Homer have their diverse views. In a more rational term what unchanging God depicts is that God is not a composite being
therefore, God is pure act and can never change from being good to bad.
Plato loquaciously stated that afterlife should not be depicted as a place of horror; in fact it should be depicted as horror to
only those who are bad. No need over laboring the obvious. This idea of Plato equals the Christian teaching of heaven and
hell. For those who live good life death is a moment of eternal rest and beatific vision they have longed for all through their
lives. But for the wicked it is eternal condemnation in hellfire. This also goes a long way to portray the eternity of human
soul as in opposition to the idea of materialism which denies life after death.
Moreover, the idea of heaven and hell or life after death has remained a very big controversy between the believers and the
non believers. The unbelievers will demand an existential fact that proves the existence of either heaven or hell if not is
only an illusion. But I think the correct thing should be since man is a composite being of body and spirit after death while
the body corrupts the spirit lives on and there comes the idea of heaven or hell as the abode where the spirit lives.
Finally Plato averred that we should not grieve much about the death of heroic men. This is interdem with Christian
teaching that we should not mourn like unbelievers because the deceased is at peace with the lord. The concept heroic as
Plato used it can be equated to saints in heaven. There is no need grieving for the saints we should have recourse to them
and ceaselessly ask them to intercede for us. So, when Plato said we should not grieve for the heroic he is not mistaken for
they are actually at peace and well placed where they are.
 5.0 CONCLUSION
5.0 CONCLUSION

Summarily Plato’s idea of censorship seems too idealistic in nature.

It is very impossible to realize such a perfect work in literary domain.
Moreover, some of those things he said should be censored are what
makes the suspense of the literary work enriching. This not
withstanding even though we may not get exactly what Plato
proposes trial can bring us to something closer to it; this is because
morality is indispensible in any society that wants to soar high in all
ramifications. A critical examination of Plato’s idea of censorship has
exposed us to the intermingling relationship that exists between
morality and religion. Religion is morality and morality is religion.
There is no need denying the fact that Christianity borrowed some
leaves of its teaching from the wealth of knowledge of Socrates
through Plato.
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