Iron Man and Philosophy by William Irwin & White Mark D

Author:William Irwin & White, Mark D.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2010-05-11T00:00:00+00:00

Tony Knows Armor, Tony Knows Women, Tony Doesn’t Know Diddley

Okay, so he is not so bad a guy, but is he really a philosopher king or merely a puppet master? Is he, as he says, someone who sees the future and responds, or is he, as Socrates would want, someone who pierces through perception to see the underlying forms that sustain reality and then crafts a world that is best for the soul? This is where Tony Stark scores worse—a lot worse . . .

Socrates was insistent on the need for philosopher guardians to rule because they alone have the knowledge necessary to rule justly. One limitation of the craftsmen and the workers is that their knowledge is partial, particular to their profession and their personal needs. The knowledge of the craft corresponds to what Socrates called technê, and the lower crafts are distinct in that they are essentially material. In other words, the ordinary craftsman’s knowledge produces something tangible, such as a basket or a ship. The technê employed by philosopher guardians does not produce anything tangible, but, then again, neither does that of teachers (and no one is claiming that teachers should rule). “True philosophers” are different, in that they do not only learn the “petty crafts,” but they also “love the sight of truth.”27 Here Socrates argued that while philosopher guardians must know the technê of ruling, this type of knowledge is insufficient to make laws and govern the city in a way that is best for the soul.

Understanding (epistêmê), as opposed to craft, requires knowing the world as it is, the “real” reality, a world that is knowable only through contemplation. The famous allegory of the cave describes the intense philosophical journey from a cave of shadows toward a light that reveals the true forms underlying reality.28 A true philosopher is committed to a lifestyle consistent with that allegorical journey: “the one who readily and willingly tries all kinds of learning, who turns gladly to learning and is insatiable for it, is rightly called a philosopher.”29 Philosophers are literally “lovers of wisdom,” whose love is so great that they cut away all the material obstacles and items that mask the truth, which is to be found in permanent forms. It is only from these forms that justice, beauty, and the good life can be understood. Without understanding these forms, even the person best trained in the craft of ruling would not rule in the way that is best for the souls of the people. Therefore, the philosopher guardian must know the craft of governing and understand the forms, must have technê and epistêmê.

Socrates asked, rhetorically, “Since those who are able to grasp what is always the same in all respects are philosophers, while those who are not able to do so and who wander among the many things that vary in every sort of way are not philosophers, which of the two should be the leaders in a city?”30 He considered those who have “no clear model in their souls and so .

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