The Issue Of Art And Exercise In Socrates’ The Republic
Art and exercise penetrate to our very souls. Our thoughts, feelings, and actions have been shaped for millennia through evolutionary biology as well as the crucial early years leading up to adulthood. Written around the fourth century BCE, Plato speaks through his teacher Socrates about the issues of justice, and it’s relation to the individual and state in his Socratic dialogue The Republic. The Republic is one of the most influential works of western civilization, setting a foundation for academic disciplines such as philosophy and political philosophy.
In The Republic, Socrates describes an imaginary just city, Kallipolis, to fellow Athenians and explores the ways in which the city’s ruling class will be raised. In Socrates’ view, a musical and gymnastic education is integral to the development of children into successful and just citizens and rulers. The just utopia, Kallipolis, is an imaginary society ruled by a philosopher king and consisting of three classes of citizens. There are the “gold” guardians who make up the rulers. Secondly, the “silver” auxiliaries, driven by honour, make up the warriors of the city. Lastly, there are the “bronze” producers who are made up by everyone else (artisans, farmers, etc. ) Socrates goes into particular detail about the rearing and education of those belonging to the guardian class. Socrates thinks of education as something different from our modern understanding. The training described in The Republic is an all-encompassing development of an individual, intended to advance the mind, body, and soul. Socrates and Woodfinden share slightly differing but related accounts of the physicality embedded in human nature and how it should be applied to education. Woodfinden’s account of this nature focuses more on sports and the desire for glory as well as recognition that is deep within us. Socrates focuses less on sports and more on how a good body and mind come hand in hand. But these two accounts are not contradictory. Woodfinden explains Plato’s position as such “Plato divided the human soul into three parts. The first is the “appetitive” part, which includes our basic animalistic desires for life essentials such as food, shelter, and sex. The second is the rational component (logos), the logical, reasoning part of the soul which seeks and yearns for truth and understanding. In between our appetites and our reason is the spirited (thumotic) third part of the soul. This is the wellspring of our desire for recognition and, in those of certain temperament, glory, fame and power. . . Thumos itself can be broken down into two further desires, isothymia and megalothymia. ” Socrates would probably have described many professional sports players today as unbalanced or megalomaniacs. These honour lovers are impressive at their respective sports, but this kind of dedication to physicality would not be needed when educating the guardians of Kallipolis. Socrates was more of the opinion that when an individual has a healthy mind, with little effort and healthy eating, the body will follow. He says “Now it doesn’t appear to me that what’s sound in a body by its virtue makes a soul good, but on the contrary, a good soul by its virtue allows a body to be the best it can be. ” Everything Woodfinden says is in his article is true, and he agrees with Socrates. He is entirely right, modern sports are a very common outlet for megalothymia, but the guardians probably would have had to bottle up their emotions rather than have an outlet.
The objective of the guardian’s education is to make people who are both repelled by evil and attracted to the good. It attempts to reconcile a proper balance of mind and body. Musical education will be for the betterment of the soul and for the body, gymnastics. The overemphasis on gymnastics would produce a brute; an overemphasis on music would produce a wimp. Dedication to gymnastics, the kind of dedication described by Woodfinden, could be dangerous for Kallipolis. Socrates knows that if the rulers of a state are warriors, they risk turning on their people and establishing an autocracy. He proposes that the rulers must be trained like noble puppies, friendly to familiars and fierce with strangers. He says “Do you imagine that for guarding there’s any difference in nature between a purebred puppy and a well-bred young man? Each needs to be sharp at perceiving things, nimble at pursuing what it perceives, and also strong if it needs to fight. ” The soul must be in balance with the body to prevent the guardians from removing the freedoms of the citizens.
Socrates also seems to think that musical education is essential, maybe even more so than a gymnastic education. Education in music, which is not limited to simply our contemporary definition of music, begins in early childhood with stories. Socrates strangely seems to stress that what is introduced to the young guardians must be highly censored, which is a bit ironic considering the circumstances of his life. Later he argues for the censorship of all fictitious or immoral stories including those of Greek mythology. This brings into question Socrates’ actual beliefs. Because as we know, Socrates was sentenced to death for corrupting the youth as well as inventing false gods and yet here he is condemning the creations of the imagination. The Guardians are not taught to question the status quo, that task is left to the elite. Instead, they are taught rigid moral boundaries. He says “A young person isn’t able to discern what’s a deeper meaning and what’s not, but what he takes in among his opinions when he’s that age tends to become hard to rub off and impossible to change. " Children will be helpless in distinguishing between moral and immoral. They cannot be fed stories where gods commit immoral acts, or they will use the behaviour as an excuse. He says “They’re harmful to those who hear them, because everyone will forgive himself for being bad, in the persuasion that, after all, even those dwelling near the gods did and are doing such things. ” Socrates says that “We’ll persuade the nurses and the mothers to tell their children, and mold their souls with stories. ” Socrates says that the early musical education is meant to instill virtue within the child. He critiques the Greek poets Hesiod and Homer for writing immoral fabricated tales. “When anyone writes of human beings worthy to speak of, much less gods, as being mastered by laughter, it’s not to be accepted. ” This brings into question again, what are the true beliefs of Socrates and Plato? The book in which the conversation is taking place is full of comedic relief, and yet Socrates claims that in the just city they would have to ban stories with excessive emotion. Socrates goes on to say that excessive displays of grief or happiness danger the just society’s stoic outlook.
In Scruton’s words “Some music civilizes while some music barbarizes. Plato opposed the dance music of his day which employed scales and rhythms that in his view aroused what is darkest and least controllable about the human psyche. ” Socrates and Scruton would completely agree that there is an objective difference between ‘moral’ and ‘immoral’ music. They would also both recognize that the music that is listened to by the young adults must be carefully selected. Scruton says “We are shaped by our musical tastes which can impact directly on our social behaviour. It really matters what the young are hearing and especially what they are dancing to. ” This also seems to be directly in line, although put relatively more tame, with Socrates’ explanation about censoring stories and music as part of the guardian’s musical education. Scruton goes on to say “As I grew into music I was aware that my musical education was not about music alone. It was an education of my whole social being, equating me with states of mind that I could not otherwise have easily grasped. ” Education in music and the arts, in Scruton and Socrates’ opinion, is absolutely essential to the successful rearing of a child.
With respect to some passages in The Republic, it may be hard to distinguish Socrates’ true opinion and his use of irony. Taking what he says as sincere, Socrates explains his views on art and exercise. Art and musical education, although heavily censored in Kallipolis is vital. While still paying close attention that individuals remain the balance between their body and soul, exercise is also essential to a child’s education. In The Republic, Socrates clearly states that a musical and gymnastic education is fundamental to the development of children into just citizens and rulers. As an individual in the modern day who loves both music and exercise, I can say humans haven’t changed. Socrates’ wisdom still rings true to this very day and will continue to do so for millennia.
