Plato and the goodness of the body. Part 4. Human social life and embodiment
III. Human Social Life and Embodiment
Consider further the role that Plato saw for the city in the pursuit of
the good.[1]
For the guardians to obtain a knowledge of the good they need the right
education and that is only possible in the right kind of city. The very
institutions of formation that are required to train people to see reality
aright require embodied social and political institutions. The city, for Plato,
is “the condition of possibility for dissemination of the good. It is precisely
under conditions of relationality
that the philosopher-guardian can recollect the good, and as the feathers of
his soul begin to sprout, he can in turn pass on this beneficial effluence to others.”[2]
Remember in the famous cave analogy (Rep.
514a–521b) that the one who sees the sun (representing the philosopher
discerning the form of the Good) has a duty to return to the cave (the city) for
the good of those in it.
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