Plato's Chariot Allegory And Vision Of An Ideal Society
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The word “reason” has a deeper meaning to human nature, then a common word associated to the English language. Plato’s chariot allegory and vision of an ideal society emphasizes the necessity of those with a great amount of reason having absolute control over those guided by desires and emotions in order to achieve good for all. It is easy to see this connection between his chariot allegory and his vision of an ideal society regarding reason by understanding each idea.
Plato’s chariot allegory uses a chariot with two horses and a driver to symbolize the three elements of the human soul, which he considers essential to human nature. The driver of the chariot represents the rational aspect of the soul, or reason. The two horses represent the…show more content… On one hand, Individuals ruled by their desires would only think of their own personal gain rather than the good of the whole community. For example, a drug dealer selling his product near schools thinks only of his potential profit and greed, not preventing drug usage from reaching and possible killing school kids. On the other hand, Individuals ruled by their emotions would only think of what makes them feel good, and not the common good of society. For example, a psychopath only feels good when murdering young girls, and does not care that they are taking away our future leaders, doctors, or etc. However, people with greater reasoning skills would be able to control their desires and emotion to see the dark impact of providing drugs to school children or the stolen lives that could have been the one to find the cure for cancer. These individuals would then seek the common good for society by controlling those ruled by their desires and emotions before they bring chaos into community. For example, police officers have a greater abundance of reasoning as they control their desires and emotions as they protect society from devastation caused by dangerous perpetrators. It is this control over reason that allows our society to move forward, so it is easy to understand why Plato viewed reason as a