The Machiavelli Blueprint By Joshua Evers
Focusing on Book 3, I can say that I am loving this read far more than our past literary works. No, I do not agree with much of it, but it is extremely interesting. Socrates emphasizes greatly how the myths and writings must be monitored in addition to music. Quickly I realized the reason for such strong censorship in these areas. Music, myths, and writings all possess the greatest outlets for creativity; the greatest risk in this society is the possibility of a creative idea contrasting that of the state. Therefore these outlets, many of which provide the greatest joys to partakers, are dangerous for a perfect society, as the human mind is impossible to monitor and in response they must restrict it.
Socrates has spent much time pondering the make up of this city because he even outlines the issues of citizens focusing only on athletics and strength, becoming viscous and brutal, as well as the woes of only focusing on the mind: the development of a soft citizen. In addition to these statements, he states necessary limitations for the guardians, or auxiliaries, such as their inability to live as normal citizens so that everyone is respected as they have their own advantages over the other.
By far, my favorite idea Socrates pushes is that they need to convince, in this order, the rulers, soldiers, and citizens that absolutely everything they have learned, including education and training, are simply their imagination! Instead, they were all formed within the Mother Earth, and each person's soul was mixed with precious metals pertaining to their importance of career. Yes, the rulers apparently have souls mixed with gold dust, and each hierarchical individual possesses a metal of some rarity in their soul, spanning from gold to brass. Socrates even implies his embarrassment in his frustrations for explaining this as well as how he would even begin to convince the city of this lie. Apparently the goal that this false origin served was to give every citizen a great respect for their land and everyone who resided in it.
(The weird fake origin story begins perfectly at the start of page 113 for anyone interested in it!)
The recurring element present throughout every intricacy in this modeling of a perfect city is censorship. Socrates uses this censorship to guard the city from corruption, but with a trade-off of its citizens never experiencing their true humanity. The end goal of this city is Justice. That cannot be obtained with disagreements or corruption. Therefore Socrates attempts to create a perfect city at all costs, which includes extreme censorship. The ends, a perfect city, completely justifies the means- extreme censorship- in Socrates' mind as he pursues justice at all costs.
P.S. I commented on the posts of Breanna and Anna Kate.
Socrates has spent much time pondering the make up of this city because he even outlines the issues of citizens focusing only on athletics and strength, becoming viscous and brutal, as well as the woes of only focusing on the mind: the development of a soft citizen. In addition to these statements, he states necessary limitations for the guardians, or auxiliaries, such as their inability to live as normal citizens so that everyone is respected as they have their own advantages over the other.
By far, my favorite idea Socrates pushes is that they need to convince, in this order, the rulers, soldiers, and citizens that absolutely everything they have learned, including education and training, are simply their imagination! Instead, they were all formed within the Mother Earth, and each person's soul was mixed with precious metals pertaining to their importance of career. Yes, the rulers apparently have souls mixed with gold dust, and each hierarchical individual possesses a metal of some rarity in their soul, spanning from gold to brass. Socrates even implies his embarrassment in his frustrations for explaining this as well as how he would even begin to convince the city of this lie. Apparently the goal that this false origin served was to give every citizen a great respect for their land and everyone who resided in it.
(The weird fake origin story begins perfectly at the start of page 113 for anyone interested in it!)
The recurring element present throughout every intricacy in this modeling of a perfect city is censorship. Socrates uses this censorship to guard the city from corruption, but with a trade-off of its citizens never experiencing their true humanity. The end goal of this city is Justice. That cannot be obtained with disagreements or corruption. Therefore Socrates attempts to create a perfect city at all costs, which includes extreme censorship. The ends, a perfect city, completely justifies the means- extreme censorship- in Socrates' mind as he pursues justice at all costs.
P.S. I commented on the posts of Breanna and Anna Kate.
I've really enjoyed this assignment as well. I found myself agreeing with the need to combine art and athleticism in education, but definitely didn't agree with the whole book. I think I need to return to page 113 and read that origin story again...I love your thoughts on this book. You have given me a completely different perspective and I'm ready to go deeper through our class discussion.
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