Plato regards truth as the highest value, proposing that it could be discovered through reason and logic in discussion, namely “dialectic”. He considers rationality to be the proper means for persuasion, the discovery of truth, and the determinant for one's actions. To him, truth is the greater good, and each person should, above all else, seek truth to guide one's life. Therefore, Plato opposes the Sophists and their teaching of rhetoric as art and as emotional oratory requiring neither logic nor proof. 3.2.3 On “philosopher-king”
Plato's tripartite “theory of soul” is a theory of soul proposed by Socrates in the Republic. In it, Socrates argues that the soul is composed of three parts: the appetitive, the rational, and the spirited. These three parts of the soul also correspond to the three classes of a just society. Individual justice consists in maintaining these three parts in the correct balance, where reason rules and appetite obeys.
In Book IV of The Republic Socrates states that opposite actions, affections and states cannot be assigned to one thing in respect of the same part of it, in relation to the same object and at the same time. For instance, it seems that, given each person has only one soul, it should be impossible for a person to simultaneously desire something yet also at that very moment be averse to the same thing, as when one is tempted to commit a crime but also averse to it. Both Socrates and Glaucon agree that it should not be possible for the soul to at the same time both are in one state and it?s opposite. From this it follows that there must be at least two aspects to soul.
The appetitive aspect of soul is the one that is responsible for the base desires within people. It is responsible for the simple cravings needed to stay alive, such as thirst and hunger, and also for unnecessary cravings such as sexual excess or the desire to over-consume at meal time. The desires for necessary things should be restricted by the other parts of the soul, while unlawful desires should be restricted completely by the other aspects of soul.
The rational soul is the thinking portion within each of us, which discerns what is real and not merely apparent, judges what is true and what is false, and wisely makes
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the rational decisions in accordance with which human life is most properly lived. The spirited soul is the source of the desires that love honor and victory. In the just soul, spirit acts as the enforcer of the rational soul, ensuring that the dictates of reason are followed. Emotions such as anger and indignation are the result of the frustration of the spirit.
According to this model, the principles of Athenian democracy are rejected as only a few are fit to rule. Instead of sophists? rhetoric and persuasion, Plato says reason and wisdom should govern. As Plato puts it: “Until philosophers rule as kings or those who are now called kings and leading men genuinely and adequately philosophies, that is, until political power and philosophy entirely coincide, while the many natures who at present pursue either one exclusively are forcibly prevented from doing so, cities will have no rest from evils,... nor, I think, will the human race.” (The Republic 473c-d)
Plato describes these “philosopher kings” as “those who love the sight of truth” and supports the idea with the analogy of a captain and his ship or a doctor and his medicine. According to him, sailing and health are not things that everyone is qualified to practice by nature. A large part of The Republic then addresses how the educational system should be set up to produce these philosopher kings.
However, it must be taken into account that the ideal city outlined in the Republic is qualified by Socrates as the ideal luxurious city, examined to determine how it is that injustice and justice grow in a city (Republic 372e). According to Socrates, the “true” and “healthy” city is instead the one first outlined in book II of the Republic, containing farmers, craftsmen, merchants, and wage-earners, but lacking the guardian class of philosopher-kings as well as delicacies such as “perfumed oils, incense, prostitutes, and pastries”, in addition to paintings, gold, ivory, couches, a multitude of occupations such as poets and hunters, and war.
In addition, the ideal city is used as an image to illuminate the state of one's soul, or the will, reason, and desires combined in the human body. Socrates is attempting to make an image of a rightly ordered human, and then later goes on to describe the different kinds of humans that can be observed, from tyrants to lovers of money in
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various kinds of cities. The ideal city is not promoted, but only used to magnify the different kinds of individual humans and the state of their soul. The philosophic soul according to Socrates has reason, will, and desires united in virtuous harmony. A philosopher has the moderate love for wisdom and the courage to act according to wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge about the Good or the right relations between all that exists.
According to Plato, a state made up of different kinds of souls will, overall, decline from an aristocracy ruled by the best, to a timocracy ruled by the honorable, then to an oligarchy ruled by the few, then to a democracy ruled by the people, and finally to tyranny ruled by one person, a tyrant. 3.2.4 On “poetry”
Young Plato loves poetry and drama, and writes poems and verses, eluding his talents in literature. However, he exiles poets out of the Republic. There are mainly three reasons for his doing so. First, poetry is general imitation, and the poet imitates the phenomena of daily life and opinions prevalent among the half-educated instead of the Forms, the only realities. Plato takes a bed and a table as examples, for a bed, there are the form of bed created by god; the bed itself made by the manufacturer and a bed painted by a painter. According to Plato?s “theory of Forms”, only the god possesses the science of the bed; the manufacturer knows how to make a bed, thus mastering the correct opinion; while, the painter or the imitator only has the vague notions about the bed imitated. Following this analogy, poetry is imitation not the truth or form. Besides, poetry can weaken the reason and logos in people?s mind by leading people?s feeling and compassionating. Last but not least, poetry which is not good for the youth should be abandoned, and poets who imitate instead of reason should be exiled out of the Republic.
Poetry, as a kind of rhetoric，is excluded in the Republic. Does it mean that Plato opposes all poetry or rhetoric? The answer is definitely not. In Book II, Socrates says that, we must find those artists who pursue real beauty and good. Their works will be
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leant by the children and youth. As a result, the minds of children and youth are influenced and educated by the good knowledge.
As said in the book, poetry, rhetoric or other arts are permitted on the premises that they are helpful for children and youth to reach good, just and truth.
Having recurred to the subject of poetry, I continued, let this defense serve to show the reasonableness of our former judgment in banishing from our state a pursuit which has the tendencies we have described: for in doing so we yielding to reason. But that poetry may not charge us with being, to a certain extent, harsh and rough, let us address her, and say that there is a quarrel of long standing between philosophy and poetry. For those lines,
That yelping cur, which at its master barks, and Mighty he is in the vain talk of fools, and Poor are those subtle thinkers,
and a thousand others, are marks of an old antagonism between the two. But nevertheless let us admit that if the poetry whose end is to please, and imitation, can give any reasons to show that they ought to exist in a well-constituted state, we for our part will gladly welcome them home again. (Republic, 339)
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Conclusion
Plato?s contribution to the theory of rhetoric lies in two aspects. One is that he criticises the rhetorical practice of the sophists of his time, the other is that he creates rhetoric “corrected” by himself.
Influenced by his core philosophy “theory of Forms”, Plato?s “philosophical rhetoric” is to find truth and good mainly through dialectical method. In The Republic, the character Socrates discusses several important topics with other debaters. First, they talk about “justice”. Socrates uses dialectical questioning to oppose others? opinions. By querying others? words, and requiring other debaters to define “justice”, Socrates steels the whole debate. Second, about “education” for citizens, Plato, represented by Socrates in the debate, insists that only those that are good and real can be taught to the people, while those that go against truth or good should be excluded. Third, Plato says that the philosopher is the only one to reach truth and good, thus they should become the philosopher-king to rule the ideal polis. In the end, debaters discuss “poetry”. Poetry is a kind of rhetoric for its language. However, poems that simply imitate, such as Homer?s poems run counter to truth and good.
Rhetoric is necessary in people?s life, thus it should be used correctly. He expresses it through establishing an ideal state-city where the ruler is the philosophy-king and where rhetoric is used in the right way of pursuing truth and good.
Distinct from the traditional rhetoric, Plato practices “philosophical rhetoric”, which subjects to “theory of forms” and leads to truth and good through dialectical activity.
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