Plato’s Myths

[Philosophy Now]

Neel Burton asks why the master reasoner turned to launching legends.

https://philosophynow.org/issues/151/Platos_Myths

[Will Bouwman]

Neel Burton asks why the master reasoner turned to launching legends.

https://philosophynow.org/issues/151/Platos_Myths

I think one of the most telling myths, which wasn't mentioned in the article, is that of the metals. For anyone who doesn't know, Plato advocated that the population of his Republic be told they have either a bronze, silver or gold soul. Bronze souls being the workers, silver the civil servants and military with the gold reserved for the ruling elite, the end being the creation of a caste system. So while, as the article states, Plato wrote "lively fictional or semi-fictional dialogues, making him one of the most readable of all philosophers", he was not above cynically using mythology for political ends. I have said before that the Myth of Er is a resurrection story that includes the template for medieval descriptions of hell, again, useful for exerting political control. The Romans, understanding that winning hearts and minds was more efficient than winning wars, took Plato's advice and, since they were having a bit of bother with Jerusalem, tried tp promote a Hebrew as the fulfilment of an OT/Torah prophecy. This worked spectacularly well with everyone but the target audience. For the millennium between the 6th and 16th centuries, a lot of philosophical effort was put into reconciling Plato and the Bible and, well, you know.

[Impenitent]

in Plato's day, they hadn't discovered Osmium...

Lemmy and Ozzy would be made of Osmium

-Imp