Politics and Platonism

25 January 202

Politics and Platonism

1. A lot of people think of Plato as a political philosopher.  I can understand why; there are three dialogues that appear to have an explicitly political focus.  I am thinking of The Republic, The Statesman, and Laws.  I am not convinced that these actually have a political focus.  For example, The Republic is primarily an allegory of the soul and the process whereby the soul makes the spiritual, and mystic, ascent.  But this allegorical understanding of The Republic is not widely shared.

2. Philosophy has significant examples of philosophers who decided to enter into politics.  The results have not been good.  Confucius engaged in attempting to reform some of the warring states of his time, but ultimately his efforts did not bear fruit.  Confucius then decided to set up a school as a vehicle for expounding his teaching. 

2.1 Pythagoras seems to have actively pursued political leadership; reports of his success or lack thereof, vary.  But there seems to have been a popular rebellion against what may have been an authoritarian Pythagorean regime; according to some sources Pythagoras was killed during this rebellion.

2.2 Boethius rose to political prominence in the Ostrogothic Kingdom in what today is Italy around 500 A.D.  His two sons rose to power at the same time.  But this political power did not last long as Boethius was falsely accused of working against the ruler.  Boethius was imprisoned, where he wrote The Consolation of Philosophy, and was executed shortly thereafter.

2.3 In Socrates we get a different view of political involvement.  In the Apology, Socrates says:

“Perhaps it may seem strange that I go about and interfere in other people’s affairs to give this advice in private, but do not venture to come before your assembly and advise the state.  But the reason for this, as you have heard me say at many times and places, is that something divine and spiritual comes to me, the very things which Meletus ridiculed in his indictment.  I have had this from my childhood; it is a sort of voice that comes to me, and when it comes it always holds me back from what I am thinking of doing, but never urges me forward.  This it is which opposes my engaging in politics.  And I think this opposition is a very good thing; for you may be quite sure, men of Athens, that if I had undertaken to go into politics, I should have been put to death long ago and should have done no good to you or to myself.  And do not be angry with me for speaking the truth; the fact is that no man will save his life who nobly opposes you or any other populace and prevents many unjust and illegal things from happening in the state.  A man who really fights for the right, if he is to preserve his life for even a little while, must be a private citizen, not a public man.”

(Plato, The Apology, 31D&E, Plato 1: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus, translated by Harold North Fowler, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1924, page 115, ISBN: 0674990404)

2.4  Plato is said to have engaged in political activity at one point in his life.  Plato was invited to do so and got involved in the power plays of factions in Sicily.  It didn’t go well.  The ruler eventually got tired of Plato’s advice and sold Plato as a slave.  Plato was purchased by a follower and Plato returned to teaching.  If there is any truth to this story it seems that Plato did not heed the advice of Socrates on this topic.  The lesson, I think, is that political power is very tempting. 

2.5  As far as I can tell, Plotinus did not write about politics; I can’t think of an Ennead that has a political focus.  Plotinus considered himself to be an heir of the Platonic tradition and that he was simply commenting on, and unpacking, Plato’s philosophy.  I take that to mean that Plotinus did not think of Plato as a political philosopher; I think this is important evidence that Plato’s thought was only marginally focused on politics.

3.  Today people tend to interpret things ideologically.  By ‘ideology’ I mean a systematic and philosophically based approach to political theory.  Examples such as Leo Strauss and Alexander Dugin come to mind as contemporary philosophers who embody this ideological perspective. 

This tendency is so widespread that having an ideological view of philosophy is, I think, felt as natural and suggesting that philosophers avoid politics would be almost incomprehensible. 

4.  I see Platonism as a contemplative tradition.  From the perspective of ideology contemplation is a waste of time.  Ideologues tend to see contemplation as an indulgence and self-centered.  This is because ideologues are activists whereas contemplatives are more concerned with turning inward.  Ideologues tend to think of contemplatives as not doing anything to alleviate the problems of the world.  This is a false dichotomy; contemplatives are doing something.  They are doing contemplation.  Contemplation is not doing nothing; it is the activity of stillness.

5.  In Phaedo Socrates says:

“The body and its desires are the only cause of wars and factions and battles; for all wars arise for the sake of gaining money, and we are compelled to gain money for the sake of the body.  We are slaves to its service.”

(Phaedo, 66C, Plato I: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus, translated by Harold North Fowler, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1924, page 231, ISBN: 0674990404)

This suggests that the ascetic contemplative is the one (perhaps the only one) who creates the conditions for not only the interior peace of the individual ascetic, but also for society as a whole.

6.  The ideologue and the contemplative have differing analyses of cause and effect.  For example, Woodrow Wilson believed that it was possible to have a ‘war to end all wars’, which is why he pushed the U.S. to join the European conflict of World War I.  In contrast, the contemplative implies that peace is possible only by living a life of peace, embodied through the ascetic ideal and embodied in contemplation.

7.  I tend to see the Platonic tradition as a type of Quietism.  I realize this way of looking at Platonism may irritate other Platonists, but that is not my intention.  By Quietism I mean a view that prioritizes the cultivation of virtue and interior states of wisdom, silence, stillness, and a life lived in accord with the ascetic ideal. 

There have been periods where Quietism has flourished, such as the 17^th century among the Catholic Quietists and Quakers.  But this didn’t last long and there was a very strong reaction against the presence of Quietism. 

8.  As I mentioned at the start of this post, many people today tend to interpret Plato as a political philosopher (think of Karl Popper).  Or they think of Plato as an early example of what today we think of as philosophical analysis.  The ascetic and contemplative foundations of his philosophy are missed.  But for the attentive reader they are not difficult to find.  And having found them, and put them into practice even a little bit, the attentive practitioner of Platonism discovers a vast realm of eternal peace and eternal light.