Plato's Democratic Entanglements by Monoson S. Sara; Monoson S. Sara Sara;

Author:Monoson, S. Sara; Monoson, S. Sara Sara;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2013-07-13T16:00:00+00:00

THE WORK OF THE ACADEMY

Plato’s founding of the Academy and his involvement in the politics of Syracuse are also usually taken to support two problematic assumptions.52 The first is that Plato had a settled political “doctrine” that is unequivocally hostile to democracy. The second is that the Academy was a training ground for statecraft, particularly for the training of would-be philosopher-kings or the advisors to, or advocates of, such a political leadership. But what we know of the Academy, as well as of Plato’s involvement in the affairs of Sicily, does not support these assumptions. The dialogues, including the Republic, do not amount to a clever presentation of a political doctrine that it was Plato’s personal aim to realize in practice through the Academy or through his own personal involvement in Sicily.

Founded at Athens by Plato in the year 387 B.C., the Academy sustained a far more open intellectual environment than is commonly supposed.53 First, though membership was a matter of formal affiliation, it was not restricted in principle to the elite strata of society. Second, the training did not amount to the indoctrination of “pupils” in an ideology.

Modest living and simplicity were hallmarks of the style of life maintained at the Academy. Plato’s own wealth, supplemented by gifts, was sufficient to finance the collection of books, maintenance of the building, and the hosting of symposia.54 The Academy charged no fees during Plato’s lifetime, suggesting that the school was not socially exclusive. Moreover, Plato’s published works were at least somewhat available to readers outside the Academy.55 Consider two well-attested cases.56 First, Axiothea, a woman who later took part in the school disguised as a man, came to the Academy after reading a book of the Republic. Second, Nerinthos, a Corinthian farmer, came to study at the Academy after being impressed by his reading of the Gorgias. In spite of the absence of fees, however, only the financially secure or independently wealthy could probably afford to attend regularly. The young men seeking to educate themselves for leadership at Athens (or elsewhere) who came to the Academy were probably typically from the upper classes. The Academy may have been exclusive in a different sense, one that may have distinguished it from other would-be educators who set up shop in Athens. By making membership a matter of formal affiliation unconnected to the payment of fees, Plato could conceivably have been reserving the right to refuse “membership” to those “whom he discovered to be incapable of, or insincere about, the rigorous study of philosophy.”57

Plato’s Academy did not impose upon students a program of study modeled on the education of the guardians as outlined in the Republic. The evidence is consistent only with the view that the Academy was organized loosely as a “community of advanced members and of younger students; it was not simply a group in which one person was the expert and the rest a following in search of their leader’s services or doctrines.”58 Cherniss’ assessment is similar: Plato did not “teach”

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