Plato's Republic by Badiou Alain

Author:Badiou, Alain [Badiou, Alain]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2013-04-17T04:00:00+00:00

— 10 —

PHILOSOPHY AND POLITICS (484b–502c)

Socrates’ “They must all be philosophers!” had carried through the night like a muffled exhortation. But there was more of a sense of weary determination about it than any bravado. Besides, Socrates was just sitting there, mouth agape, not saying a word and idly scratching his left leg with a fork. After a couple of minutes, Glaucon couldn’t stand it anymore and felt he had to gauge the extent of his teacher’s uncertainty.

–Dear Socrates, he began, no one has anything to object to in your arguments. But haven’t you sometimes wondered how those who don’t dare say another word after they’ve been caught in some aporia or other by your amazing intellectual dexterity feel? They’re sure that when it comes to your favorite game, the question-andanswer game, their lack of experience is such that, as their little slips of the tongue pile up, they’re ultimately led to making huge mistakes, which are diametrically opposed to what they thought at the outset. They feel like a mediocre chess player, so surprised by his opponent’s attack, long concealed in his move-by-move strategy, that he has no idea where to put his king anymore and can only lay it on its side to signal his defeat. Your listeners likewise end up feeling paralyzed and unable to say a thing at the end of the chess game that’s played with arguments instead of wood pieces. But don’t think that they conclude that truth is on your side. No way. They may have been defeated in the symbolic game of argument, but they’re confident they can show that real facts may well prove them right. Everyone can see, they say, what happens to people who are seriously committed to philosophy, people for whom philosophy isn’t just an academic subject that you drop after dabbling in it in your youth.

–What happens to them? asked Socrates, his eyes agleam.

–There are two possibilities, or so say your interlocutors when they talk behind your back. Most of these “philosophers” become strange, if not thoroughly immoral, people. And the only thing the tiny minority who manage to keep a sense of proportion get from this intellectual exercise you champion so vigorously is a plain inability to become involved in politics and take on leadership positions in the state.

–What about you, dear Glaucon? said Socrates, smiling. Do you think that they’re wrong to say all that behind my back when they’re brooding over their defeat in chess? Or that they’re right?

–I’m totally confused. I’d like to know what you think about it.

–No problem! They’re telling the truth, nothing but the truth. “The whole” truth, though, maybe not.

–Well, that’s a bit much! Amantha suddenly burst out. You give us solid proof that the only way countries will escape their plight is if all their citizens become philosophers, then, with no warning, you turn around and say that philosophers are political morons! So how does your fifth system of government work, then?

–I can only answer your question, dear girl, with a metaphor.

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