Philosophy of Plato and American Culture - Research Paper Example

? Philosophy of Plato and American Culture Plato was a Greek philosopher and mathematician who set the foundations of the Western philosophy and science, along with his mentor Socrates and his student Aristotle. Plato’s work is present in the form of dialogues and letters. However, some of the scholars are skeptical regarding the authenticity of the works. The works of Plato have been published in a number of ways. Plato’s works have been widely referenced and so many other concepts and philosophies have been based on the works of Plato. It can be said that each culture is based on some distant philosophy which is widely adopted by the people and ultimately turns into the values and traditions of the people. There are so many diverse cultures all around the globe which are based on some philosophies which can still be observed in the 21st century. Plato was one of the philosophers whose philosophy is eminent in the Western culture and it can be said that today’s American culture emanates the philosophy of Plato in a number of ways. According to Alfred North Whitehead, the safest generalization of the different characteristics of the Western culture is that it is based on the philosophy of Plato. The philosophy has not been adopted in a systematic way but it can be easily seen that the scattered ideas of Plato have been included in the culture (Lachs & Talisse, 2008). Platonism had already developed for a period of two millennia after Plato’s death after it had any influence on the American philosophy. There are a number of ideas found in the works of Plato that have played significant role in the development of American philosophy. The main three ideas that have influenced the American philosophy the most are; the importance of formal understanding of mathematics; the conception of nature as in process and the conviction that because of the roles of form in natural processes, value is a part of nature. Following is the comprehensive analysis of the influences that the philosophy of Plato has on the American educational structure and society in general. Plato’s Philosophy and American Education System American culture is influenced by Plato philosophy in some way or the other. There are a number of ways in which American culture intersects with Plato’s philosophy. One of the main examples is the system of State and education. Plato founded the basic concepts for a number of subjects which have been developed over time and they are taught in the educational institutes of America. Dialogues of Plato have been used in a wide range of subjects which include; mathematics, ethics, philosophy and logic. There are a number of ways in which people come across the philosophy of Plato, sometimes without even realizing it. Plato’s philosophy is considered to be the foundation for the democratic philosophies of education as he proposed a whole system of education. Plato always encouraged education in his philosophy and his teachings can still be observed in American culture. According to Plato; children with talent should be selected by the State from all the social classes regardless of the social position of the children. Plato considered children as the assets of the State and he suggested that the State should educate the children in order to make them eligible for the right kind of service to the State. Children should be educated in such a manner that they become fully trained for the kind of service they are to perform in the future. Plato suggested that the educated children may serve in; military services, city management and dialectic. The State should take the responsibility of the education of such talented children. According to Plato, the children should go through a comprehensive educational training which begins with gymnastics, music, and mathematics. Plato gave significant importance to the concept of mathematics and this philosophy of Plato has influenced American culture in a number of ways. The development of scientific methods in America can be connected to the philosophy of Plato about application of mathematical principles to concrete realities. The application of mathematical principles to other disciplines of science has proved to be highly useful for the development of scientific methods. Mathematical principles are used for accuracy and precision in the measurements and calculations; and these factors are highly important for other disciplines of science such as Physics and Chemistry. Plato was completely convinced that logical structures, formal ideas and mathematical notions are completely understandable. According to Plato, formal ideas that included mathematical principles had a certain logical pattern that was interesting and that could by learned by people at large. Due to this understanding of Plato, later attempts to understand mathematical principles were made and it was understood by people at large. Thus, a series of development of mathematical principles started and gradually each mathematician added certain new logics and principles to the discipline. Thus, the discipline grew even further and its application in the other fields of science increased. The rise of Physics and Astronomy in the early ages was due to Plato’s description of the understandability of the mathematical principles and logical patterns. The initial states of Physics and Astronomy are widely based on the mathematical calculations and principles (Lachs & Talisse, 2008). The biggest contributions in the development of mathematical principles in light of Plato’s philosophy were made by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell. He presented a metaphysical system which described the manner in which mathematical principles could be observed in the symmetry and pattern of physical things. This is one of the fundamental philosophies described by Plato. It was considered that modern science would not be able to describe the relationship between mathematical principles and physical patterns but the works of later philosophers and mathematicians created negated this perception and the application of mathematical principles in other disciplines of science was widely accepted. Plato’s educational philosophy suggests that the educated should be made responsible for guarding the city and to take care of the less able. Plato believed in the same kind of education for both boys and girls. According to Plato’s writing, the following ideas about an education system have been derived: Initial education would be conducted in a supervised manner in which the students will be taught music, mathematics and gymnastics. After the initial education, there should be a mandatory military training for two years. Higher education after the training can be acquired by those who qualify the initial stage. This system of education is designed to make the students both tough and gentle in order to make them able to protect their people and to make them harmonious human beings. The students selected for higher education would study mathematics, geometry, harmonics, or astronomy for a period of 10 years. After completing the higher education, there would be another selection and the qualified students would study dialectics, philosophy, logic and metaphysics for a period of 5 years. The educational system proposed by Plato can be compared with the current educational system of America. There are some major differences due to the development of international politics over time but the core concepts of the educational system can be related to the educational system presented by Plato. First similarity between the current American educational system and the system proposed by Plato is the gradual advancement of the education. As Plato proposed the educational system in a number of levels including the elementary level, the higher education level and a further specialization level; the American educational system is also based on this system. According to Plato, the students who qualify for the higher levels of education are provided further specialized education, while in American system of education, this qualification criteria has been translated into grades, interviews and aptitude tests. It can be observed that the foundation of the educational system in America is similar to the Plato’s philosophy, however, there are certain differences as well that have occurred over centuries. Plato’s educational system has autocratic methods unlike the American culture of education which follows democratic philosophy of education. Nonetheless, Plato’s methods are the foundation of the current educational system and at the time when Plato presented these methods of education, these were completely valid as democratic methods were derived much later. According to Plato’s methods, selected children would be taken in the custody of the state and they would be educated and trained by the state. After the required education and training, they would be bound to serve the state in the manner as they are directed. According to Plato, a person is well off only when he is subordinate to a just system. Therefore, the factor of democracy is not there in Plato’s methods. On the other hand, in the current American education system, the guardians of the children are free to choose any type of education for their children and at a certain level, children are free to make their own decisions and to choose their own careers. Thus, it can be said that American education system follows democratic philosophy of education unlike the philosophy as described by Plato. Another difference that occurs between the current American educational system and Plato’s educational philosophy is that of the curriculum. Plato would have criticized the curriculum of the American education system as it does not consider the methods as were prescribed by Plato. According to Plato, children should be given education regarding mathematics, music and gymnastics only as these are the most basic and most helpful learning endeavors. However, in the current American education system, it can be observed that a very wide range of subjects have been introduced and a very little attention is given to disciplines that were prescribed by Plato himself. Only one subject from Plato’s proposal that is given just as much attention today is mathematics as it is very helpful in learning other disciplines of science. Music and gymnastics are not given much importance and they are kept in the curriculum as a formality. The performance of the students in these two disciplines does not have any significant impact on the overall performance of the students. At the very fundamental level, there is a non-compliance of the goals of education as described by Plato and as they are implemented in the American education system. Plato specified that the educated people would be trained in such a manner that they would be able to serve the State and State only. There were a limited number of services that were presented by Plato such as military services and management of the city. Plato expected the educated lot to protect the uneducated. On the other hand, in the current American education system, there are various disciplines that can be chosen by the students at their own discretion without any interference by the state. The state has only taken responsibility of providing the facilities of education and the decision to choose the type of education would be of the students. Students are also free to choose their professions from a wide range of professional educations. Thus, it can be inferred that the American education system is fundamentally structured upon the philosophies of Plato but there are certain differences that have occurred due to the need of time. It can be seen that the basic structure of educational system is similar to that proposed by Plato. This is one of the most basic influences that Plato’s philosophy has on the American culture. The differences that have occurred are due to the prevalence of democratic philosophy in the present times. Plato’s Philosophy and American Society Plato also presented his ideas regarding a perfect society which can easily be compared with the current American society. There are a number of philosophies presented by Plato regarding an ideal society. According to Plato’s works, a society has a tripartite structure which means there are three classes that can run an ideal society. A society can be divided in the following classes: Productive, Protective and Governing. Productive class represents the workers which include; plumbers, carpenters, farmers, laborers etc. This is the class of people that would help in the construction of the society. They would also help in implementing the decisions made by the governing bodies. Protective class represents the warriors. This class belongs to the people who are brave, strong and courageous. Their task is to protect the society from any harm either internal or external. The warriors help the society in maintaining peace by fighting back the forces that try to disrupt it. Governing class represents the rulers. This class belongs to the people who are intelligent, rational, able to make decisions for the masses, and who seek wisdom. These people are very few because of the rare abilities they need to possess. They have a responsibility to govern the society by making intelligent decisions that would help in the further prosperity and development of the society. Plato’s model of a society suggests that the society should be governed by those who have wisdom instead of the people themselves. This suggests that Plato encouraged autocratic methods of government and he discouraged democracy. According to Plato, a bad democracy is worse than a tyranny because in case of a bad democracy, all the people would be responsible for the situation. Plato firmly believed in the rule of a few wise people instead of a large number of people having diverse levels of wisdom. The logic that can be derived from Plato’s philosophy is that; the more people to take part in decision making, the more complicated the process of decision making would be. In this manner, a significant amount of time would be wasted in merely resolving the issue regarding determination of the best decisions. Amid all this, the actual purpose of the government would be forgotten which is the betterment of the society. Plato’s logic is valid but in a specific set of conditions. In some part of the worlds, it can be observed that democracy has failed because people waste all the time in discussing about possibilities rather than implementing upon a single plan. Therefore, if Plato’s philosophy is applied to such scenarios, it can be inferred that Plato’s philosophy for an ideal society is completely valid. When Plato’s philosophy for an ideal society is compared to the current American society, it can be inferred that a number of differences have occurred over centuries. Similar to the case of Plato’s educational philosophy and America’s current education system, it can be said that the basic structure of a society has been based on the Plato’s philosophy of a society. There is a ruling body that is the government, there are warriors that are the armed forces that protect the country from any kind of harm and there are workers that are the people serving the country in a number of ways such as; doctors, engineers, scientists, accountants, bankers etc. Thus, it can be said that the basic structure of the American society can be linked with that of Plato’s philosophy for a society. However there are certain differences that have occurred over centuries of societal development. The core American values that are reflected by the current American society are; equality, religion, liberty, self-reliance and an equitable system. These values are however different from those described by Plato in his works which are; wisdom, justice, self-control and courage. Even though the societal values as prescribed by Plato are not prominently found in current American culture, the traces of these values can still be observed. People value wisdom because they understand the worth of it. Self-control is also valued; however, it is not implemented as vigorously as prescribed in Plato’s philosophy. Similarly, justice and courage can also be observed in the American society. Conclusion Thus, it can be concluded that, Plato’s philosophy has greatly influenced the American culture and the traces of Plato’s philosophy are still prominent in the American education system and American society. The basic structure of the American education system is based on the Plato’s philosophy of an educational system. Similarly, the basic structure of the American society is based on philosophy of society described by Plato in his works. Plato placed emphasis on the importance of mathematical principles and their application in the physical patterns. This emphasis was translated into the development of different disciplines of science in the American culture. Therefore, it can be said that the influence of Plato’s philosophy can be prominently found in American culture. Works Cited Lachs, John; Talisse, Robert B. American Philosophy: An Encyclopedia. New York, Routledge. 2008. Print. Read More