Plato: The Importance of Knowledge

Plato, in his work The Republic, deals with the issue of living a good life. He presents his argument through two questions: what is justice in the state and what is a just individual? These two provoking inquiries naturally bring about many others. One of these questions is: how should the citizens of a state be educated? “Plato was the first who conceived the method of knowledge…He was the greatest metaphysical genius whom the world has seen; and in him, more than in any other ancient thinker, the germs of future knowledge are contained.” Plato was passionate about the importance of knowledge. He saw two worlds, the sensible and the intelligible, each having its own type of knowledge. These two worlds could be divided by a line: the upper part was the intelligible world and the lower part consisted of the visible world. In the visible world men only have opinions, illusions, and beliefs, but only see reflections of reality. Their beliefs in the lower world may guide them in life but do not require reaching conclusions with certainty. The intelligible world, however, contains two sub-regions. One is reason. This includes knowledge of things that can be accepted without question.

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Plato was influenced by many philosophers that came before him and lived during his time. When the citizens are educated, however, they achieve a unity of virtues. These virtues lead to ethics, intelligence, and morality and are the key ingredients in making the ideal polis. Plato believed that the concept of good was equal to a god and through this divinity virtue was achieved. In other words, the state that gave its people an education would create a happy society. After the Peloponnesian War, he questioned the nature of human society and considered how their polis had deteriorated to what he now saw.

The result of society grasping these concepts would be a utopia. Plato’s emphasis on the importance of knowledge led him to write in 360 BCE, in The Republic, “It is better to be unborn than untaught: for ignorance is the root of misfortune. His extreme emphasis on education came from a true desire to find the ideal society. ” This passionate statement is more than Plato’s

philosophy, it is his reality. Plato speculated about the polis itself and what its ideal state looked like. He devoted himself to finding how Athens could achieve this ideal polis. Plato wanted a state that provided

the ultimate good and happiness above anything else. I believe that men can reach true happiness without having the highest form of education. The second sub-region, the highest a man can reach, is intelligence.

Approximate Word count = 834
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