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   sagetrieb Teacher
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   Plato defines philosophers as those who are wise enough to know they are  ignorant, and so built into his definition of the philosopher king is this basic paradox, one which we still hold today in someway—the wise person has sufficient wisdom to be humble because he knows he cannot know everything. But the guardians of the state—both rulers and soldiers, must live in poverty with all their property held in common, says Plato, and must also give up their families so that they live in common—children would be raised so that they do not know who their parents are, and these children are in fact bred—the state couples men and women—for the good of the state. Do the wise desire this? Finally, when he tells his allegory of the cave, demonstrating the philosopher is the one who leaves the cave to discover the true and the good, Plato also says that the philosopher’s burden is to reenter the cave in order to educate others about the limitations of the material world. Perhaps no wise person wants this burden, but it is only such a person who is fit to rule society

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/republic

   http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/2g.htm

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   Posted by sagetrieb on Friday December 7, 2007 at 4:26 AM