A Little On Plato- The Social Living Best

In this post we will be touching lightly on some theories formulated by the philosopher Plato. While we will not be going in-depth, we will be borrowing some of his ideas, and critically revise the possible implications of his philosophy with respect to the theories of Truth and Goodness. For a more in-depth expansion of Plato’s utopia, please do research his works within your personal domains.

Plato had explicitly stated in the Republic, that the two primary concerns of humanity are in essence: Politics and Ethics. In a nutshell, politics and ethics make up the two fundamental means of direct relation between individuals within a republic. Plato also encouraged men to go beyond the semantic level of merely being political or resolving moral issues; he proposed that the forces of politics and ethics could be understood with epistemology and metaphysics. The understanding of these two concepts can allow one to transcend to a higher level, so that one may no longer be entwined with the workings of society.

Of course we may by now succinctly restate this notion with the theories we have acquired insofar. The premise of ethics is based on the conviction of love, and from there politics and love come hand in hand to form both the epistemic, and ontological means of relation between individuals. If we recall Project RN (T) - epistemology and ontology, realism and idealism, with objectivity and subjectivity form the three major dimensions of truth.  Naturally, we can induce from the moderation doctrine that there must be an idealistic component for ethics and love; Plato defined these two concepts as epistemology and metaphysics. Do note that Plato’s epistemology and metaphysics, in comparison to ethics and politics, has an added element of objectivity on top of idealism. The idealistic mastery of the forces that compel us brings about a certain sort of transcendence to the unified.

We will not be comparing the validity of both theories- in a way both theories do capture the essence of truth slightly. Idealism- or the equivalent mental reconstruct of realism is in a way the champion achievement of life. From beauty theory we see that it was from the infinite state of being that sentience can manifest. Subsequently, it is from the fullness of sentience the feedback of human philosophy and natural philosophy can occur to form what we call as realism and idealism.

On Plato’s account, if we are able to master the concepts of epistemology and metaphysics. If are able to attain to a stage of sentience- to the point of giving the idealistic recount of (natural) ethics and politics; then we will be able to understand the workings of natural philosophy- and subsequently lead our lives in full understanding of the truth behind it.

It is on these grounds man had always seek and preached the word ‘enlightenment’. It is also of no coincidence that theology holds that man in his prime has the potential of God Himself, since it was in God’s image man was created from. From here, we can now see that the truly enlightened person is then a person whose domain is in harmony with the domain he is within. We now arrive back to the living best postulate- to the fundamental reason why we ought to live our lives in truth, and back to the reason why Project RN (T) was initiated back on the 21st December 2008.

In a way we can now officially sit back and congratulate ourselves for having seek the living best- be it objective in project RN (T), or subjective as stated in insofar in project RN (T2). From the natural theory of truth we have built up a sentient identity, integrate it within society, and come to an idealistic understanding (enlightenment?) that the true way of living (social and personal) is by living it in harmony with the natural way of life. With respect to the theory of living, we had indeed found the living best to life.

Pause that notion for a moment- as we have raised the question in: Beyond the United Self, we see that the construct of goodness and meaning cannot be explained by the theories of truth.  We also recall the question of ‘best’ in the living best. Now, if we have congratulated ourselves for having found out (with a little affirmation from Plato) the living best, on what grounds do we say that the way of truthful harmony is the best way of living?

On the other hand, it is very curious why Plato had incorporated the added dimension of objectivity and subjectivity to his strife. Plato believed that the living best was a state of being that tended towards a mental reconstruction of the world- a mental nirvana where we may explain everything, be infinitely knowledgeable, mature and ethical. From the ‘lower’ levels of sentience to the ‘higher’ levels of sapience- from merely being aware to the forces of nature, to the active participation towards progress itself. While the formal definition of progress is exceedingly complex, we see that the nature of progress has something to do with the concept of ‘tending towards objectivity’. If that is so, then the living best- the end product of the progress towards goodness, is naturally ultimate objectivity.

But what is the meaning of objectivity? Why is progress towards objectivity, and not subjectivity? On a more personal note, why did we have to borrow the theories of Plato to induce the idea of progress and objectivity to complete our quest for the living best? It is evident from those many cautions beforehand that Truth theory can account for the living best, but cannot bring the living best to our lives.  It is also evident from the many allusions that there is a sort of link between goodness and meaning. We have kept this notion in vein for the past four posts, but today we will see to the true reason behind this.

It is quite easy to see that progress has to have an objective meaning for it to be called progress. An action towards any randomly orientated intention may contain some meaning of its own, but while there are infinite possible intentions, there cannot be an infinite form of progress. If we are to go along these lines, then the only action that we can deem as progress has to be an action that strives for a greater meaning. If meaning was to be taken as a value, then progress would be an action that constantly strives towards a greater value.

Then and again, what is that ‘value’ that we talk about? Earlier on, we did state that love convicts the soul towards goodness. In other words, the conviction of love brings meaning to the individual- meaning for existence, and value to life. While humans arbitrarily enschrew value into precious metals and paper money, the natural transaction of value, or meaning, or qualia, actually lies in the essence of goodness. (We will see through the relation of both values in the next faculty)

If we were to combine both ideas together, then all progress strives towards a greater goodness, and ends within the objectively good. While truth can be unified to a singularity and diversified to infinity, (and a lot of confusion) the objective good is a definite (objective) that holds the maximum amount of meaning and qualia.

It is on the value of objective goodness Plato had recognized that made him strive towards his objective idealism. The understanding of epistemology and metaphysics was encouraged simply because it gives more meaning to life (more goodness) than living within politics and ethics. If we are to subtract all the philosophy from this post, we can actually very conveniently restate this as: “because it is better”. After all, common intuition tells us that it is always much more fun play a game than to watch someone play.

 We end this post on two notes today. On one hand we see to a social moderation doctrine complimentary to the personal moderation doctrine in project RN (T). This does not come to us as much of a surprise, since every proposition must contain an element of truth, and the theory of truth has seen that each proposition must have an element of epistemology, ontology, realism and idealism.  On the other hand, we see that the quest for the living best does not end with this theory. While we borrow Plato’s philosophy to induce the need for goodness in order for progress to truly materialize. We see that there is still a long way to go before we may truly grasp the meaning of goodness itself.

In the next post, we will transit on from this preliminary introspection of truth and goodness to dwell into the concepts of goodness proper. We will see to the proposition (highlighted today) that the natural value of all things is goodness. We will start from our last premise of love, and from there have greater insight to theory of goodness.