“Philosophers must become kings…so political power and intellectual wisdom will be joined…Until that happens…there can be no rest…[we] will never see the light of the sun.” (Plato, Rep. 473)
It is important to understand the Philosopher King if we are to lead. By analyzing the Statesman and the missing Philosopher dialogue, I will show that the Philosopher King uses the dialectical method to understand the nature of people and harmoniously weave them together.
The Statesman begins as the Visitor suggests dividing knowledge into two: practical and theoretical. These two particular kinds of knowledge make up a general class of knowledge. In the Statesman, demonstrative knowledge is used, instead of the distinguishing mark used in the Theaetetus. The different forms of expertise in kingship and statesmanship also fall under a general class of expertise. The person who possesses the knowledge of kingship, whether elected or not, would be an expert in kingship. The expertise of the statesman/king are the same and are a form of theoretical knowledge.
The Visitor continues to divide theoretical knowledge into an art of calculation. The kingsman expertise rules others towards a ‘coming into being.’ The visitor concludes that the kingship is self-directing the collective rearing of all humans. The Visitor states,
“But care of the whole human community together - no other sort of expertise would be prepared to say that it had a better and prior claim to being that than kingly rule, which is over all human beings.” (Stm. 276b7-c2)
The final division is between people who are enforced or are voluntarily ruled. Those who are enforced, are subjugated by a tyrant, whereas those who volunteer, are led by a king.
The Visitor is not satisfied with the superficial outline and posits that a demonstration using a model would give a better account. The Visitor states why a model is useful,
“By comparing them, we demonstrate that there is the same kind of thing with similar features in both combinations.” (Stm. 278b1-3)
The model being used in the case of the king, is similar in form seen on a small scale. The model is used to systematically show what the expertise is.
The model of the weaver is decided upon and divided into contributory and primary causes. The contributory causes provide the necessary elements for the craft of weaving but are not involved in the process of weaving itself. The operation of combination and separation is integral to the craft. Excess/deficiency is measured by how they are related to one another and
“in relation to the coming into being of what is in due measure…[meaning]…what is fitting, the right moment, what is as it ought to be - everything that removes itself from the extremes to the middle.” (Stm. 284d7-8, e6-8)
To understand the coming into being of due measure, one is challenged to divide things into real classes by first perceiving the similarity or difference of something in all related things, then separate them into distinct classes. The king is to understand how others are coming into being and determine what is most fitting for them based on their classification.
The art of statesmanship is concluded to be essentially an interweaving and bonding of the different classes of courageous and moderate people into a whole organization. The Visitor completes the account of statesmanship,
“when the expertise belonging to the king brings their life together in agreement and friendship and makes it common between them, completing the most magnificent and best of all fabrics and covering with it all the other inhabitants of cities…and holds them together with this twining and rules and directs without…falling short of that in any respect.” (Stm. 311b7-c6)
The king is therefore responsible for everyone in society via aiding them by dividing based on categories and fitting social groups based on different predispositions. The expertise of the king is the best because of the skill to apply what is in due measure.
Gill (2012), offers an account of the philosopher as one who uses the dialectical method to understand the nature of being. Gill defines being as something with a structural or categorical core distinctive of its nature. (230) Distinguishing from the sophist, who is focused on nonbeing,
“Plato’s philosopher aims for the good in two spheres: to understand the nature of things and to help others find it.” (Gill 244)
The Philosopher King, therefore, makes an effort to dialectically understand the nature of people to help weave them together in their coming to being.
The weaving analogy has the social fabric as the parts of the cloth are the thread and the parts of society are the people. Understanding how to weave different kinds of threats is equivalent to understanding how to integrate different kinds of people into a community. This includes people who have mental health issues. In some ways, more so than anyone else, a person with a mental health issue needs a weaver, someone to help them with the inner workings of their soul (wisdom, temperance, courage and justice from the republic book II) and how they fit within the larger social context.
Therefore to be the statesman and the philosopher king, one must have an understanding of psychology, mental disorders and how to integrate people anywhere on the spectrum of mental illness/health together.
Society includes all of us, including the anti-social, the narcissist, the depressed, the successful and happy. The weaver is weaving a cloth. The cloth is all the included threads. A society is all humans in the present time therefore it includes those suffering from a mental illness. To call yourself a king means you are responsible for those who suffer mental health issues around you. The quality of your Kingship is relative to your ability to weave together the loose threads of our society; those who suffer from mental illness.
Psychology is the scientific study of the psyche or ‘soul.’ The being that the philosopher is to understand the nature of, if they are to be the statesman, the expertocracy and leader of the people, is to understand the psychology of our species and help them.
References
Gill, Mary Louise. Philosophos. United Kingdom, Oxford University Press, 2012.
Plato. Statesman. Translated by Rowe, J., Hackett, 1999.
Plato. The Republic. Translated by Rouse, W.H.D. Signet Classics, 2008.
Aj 1.2.22
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