Starting this week, I'll be talking to you from time to time about the books that have influenced me. I don't read these books systematically, but I talk about what they inspired me in a checklist-style way. Today's issue I will start with Plato's The Republic, one of the most classic works of Classical Western philosophy, and a book that has helped me "open my eyes."
1. Plato's writings, after a long history, are still recognized as classics, and when I read such books, I have always maintained an attitude that I force myself to assume that everything said in the book is correct, and if I feel that anywhere in the book is wrong, I will do everything I can to make up for him. In the process of constantly making excuses for Plato, many of the things that I took for granted and taken for granted in my mind were gradually broken. This process is also the process that helps me get rid of my original series of ideas.
Figure | Plato and Aristotle
2. Take Plato's "Learning To Recall" as an example. Plato said that man's learning is not about acquiring anything new, but that the soul is originally in the world of ideas, possessing all knowledge, but the soul forgets this knowledge after entering the body, and learning is the process of recalling the knowledge that has been forgotten. This theory sounded complete nonsense at first, but when I finally tried to help him put this lie to paper, I realized how profound Plato's learning recollections were. In fact, Plato is saying that our study can neither be learning what we already know, because what we already know does not need to be learned; nor can it be learning something that is absolutely unknown, because you do not know what you absolutely do not know, and you do not want to learn at all. The only thing you can learn is what you know you don't know. But you know what you don't know, how do they get into your head? They are not learned at all, but are gifted. For example, chimpanzees can learn words but never learn grammar, while children who learn teeth and teeth are naturally capable of learning grammar. It is grammar that allows finite words to express infinite meaning, how do children have the ability to learn grammar? I can't tell, it's gifted, and we know we don't know.
3. Why did Plato propose a theory of ideas? This is related to man's pursuit of eternity and universality. We humans are always giving meaning to the world. For example, Wittgenstein's rabbit and duck diagram, from one point of view it is a rabbit, another point of view is a duck. But whatever it is, we always think it has to be something, which means we always give meaning to it. Why does man have to give meaning to the world? I can't say it clearly, and that's what we know we don't know. We can also know that human action is driven by the meaning that man gives to the world. And the so-called meaning must achieve a certain eternity and universality, as long as it does not reach the universality of eternity, you will always feel that this thing is meaningless. We feel meaningful in our lives because we always feel that we are part of some universal, eternal cause. Otherwise, even if you make money, you still feel empty. So what is the true universality of eternity? Plato believed that things in the real world are not good, that they are too changeable, that not only are no two leaves the same, but that the same leaf is different at different times, that different people see the same leaf the same, that the true universality of eternity can only be in the world of "ideas" beyond reality.
Figure | Wittgenstein's rabbit-duck diagram
4. The eternal "idea" realm is the fundamental criterion for the short-lived and changeable real world. Then, to judge whether the specific politics is good or bad, we cannot judge which country is actual, because the actual country is also changeable, and it is necessary to find the "idea" of the "country" and use it as a standard to judge whether the specific country in reality is good or bad, and this concept is the so-called "ideal country". Plato later realized that the Ideal State could not be achieved at all, but the judgment was not used to achieve it, but to judge reality. You can not accept his judgment and look for your judgment, but you will always need a judgment, and this criterion must not be in the real world.
5) The "cave fable" in The Republic is famous for revealing a very painful truth. A group of people born locked in the cave can not turn around, can only look forward to the cave wall, this group of people behind a pile of fire, there are others holding animal models walking around in front of the fire, the locked people can only see the model cast on the cave wall for a lifetime, thinking that this is the real world. Until one day someone gets the opportunity to get out of the cave and see the real world outside, and then find that the sun is the root of all this. This is equivalent to the philosopher no longer confused by the volatile phenomenal world and finally seeing the conceptual world of eternal reality. Plato said that when you see the world outside the cave, you definitely don't want to go back to the cave, you will be willing to stay in this world forever. However, such a beautiful real world, of course, you will hope that your compatriots can also know it, so you feel that you have an obligation to return to the cave and tell your compatriots what the real world is. But after you return to the cave, from the light to the dark, for a time you can't even see the shadow on the cave wall, at this time you explain to your compatriots the real world outside the cave, everyone will laugh at you, because you can't even see the "reality", and dare to talk about what "real" to take us to see, if you continue to insist, the compatriots will simply kill you.
Figure | Cave Fables
When Plato wrote this parable, he had Socrates in mind, but behind it revealed an eternal dilemma of the thinker. When you see the truth, if you cannot tell it to your fellow citizens, you will be lonely, because you will feel that you have not really attained universal eternity—it is morally unjustifiable to know the real world and keep it secret; but when you tell it to your fellow citizens, you will fall into greater loneliness because no one understands. Such a dilemma is actually unavoidable for those who have the opportunity to get out of the cave, and they are doomed to move forward in loneliness. It is likely that there are only painful Socrates and happy pigs in the world, and there is no happy Socrates.
Figure | Death of Socrates
6. There is another story in the Republic that is extremely painful after reading, and has a certain opposite effect to the cave fable, that is, Plato's Phoenician myth. Plato said that people in the city-state are hierarchical, but people of low rank are not willing to accept their low-level status, so what to do? It is necessary to instill in them a Phoenician myth. This myth says that when the heavens created man, different materials such as gold, silver, copper, iron, etc., and the more valuable materials were used, the higher the level of the person, the lower the level of man was made of low materials, and this myth was used to justify the hierarchy in reality. At first glance, this may seem like a very jerky approach, using myths to deceive low-ranking people into confessing their lives; but from another point of view, it is a reverse plan given to Socrates' scheme, which has the same painful dilemma.
For society in reality to form order, it must be structured, and structured means that the relationship between command and obedience must be hierarchical, and how this relationship will be interpreted is another question, but no matter how it is interpreted, in fact, command and obedience must exist. But why should those who obey orders accept their status as weakmen? Two approaches, one is to rely on violent coercion, but this method is extremely costly and unsustainable; the other is to tell a story to justify the relationship between command and obedience and make people voluntarily accept it. The story itself is certainly false, and it must make the weak confess their fate; but without this story, society may fall into endless turmoil, and in a turbulent society, the most unfortunate person must be the weak, because the strong have a way to protect themselves, and the weak can only admit their fate.
The person who is qualified to tell this story should be the great legislator. If this great legislator were an evil man, all would be trapped in a miserable fate; if he were a man of compassion, he would plunge himself into an endless torment of conscience. For the compassionate, telling a false story in order to make the weak confess is in itself something that cannot be passed on in conscience; but if this story is not told, the weak may fall into a more miserable situation, which is even more in the conscience. The two evils are opposed, and the great legislators still have to tell this story, but this can only trap themselves in the entanglement of conscience that cannot be shaken off.
Figure | Three statues of the "Great Legislators" in the U.S. Supreme Court building
7 Weber once said that politics is a cause of dealing with the devil. When I read Weber's words and recalled these stories told by Plato, my heart was really full of mixed feelings. Weber's statement is not that politicians are the devil, but that politics itself is the devil, and it can put people in a dilemma, a situation where the two evils are in power, but in this situation you have to make a choice, and if you simply give up the choice, it will only bring greater disasters, so you have to deal with the devil. When dealing with the devil, you know that you want to seek justice, but you have to dance with the devil in order to pursue justice; and in the process, how human nature can not be corrupted is a doubly difficult matter. Both the Socratic plan and the Phoenician plan were a dilemma. Man is such a limited species that can only face such a reality. Plato expressed these things in the most profound way.