Socratic-Platonic Thought

 

Note: All posts are interconnected, so you are requested to read the previous posts before reading this post. 

In the last post, we discussed the pre-Socrates period, where the philosophers explored wholeness and its parts with their roles. The section discusses Socratic-Platonic thoughts focusing on individual virtues, happiness, right knowledge, etc., instead of the Universe and its constituents.

Socrates, a Greek sage and philosopher of the fifth century B.C. from Athens, was the herald of a silent revolt against the living highly based on material possessions and imbued with power and wealth along with inhumanity. The below statement given by Mumford can help us visualize the materialistic life of that period:

“The ruling classes constantly were enervated by the surfeit of goods and pleasures they had so ruthlessly monopolized for themselves. They had lapsed, too may of these insolent rulers and their agents, from a human to a distinctly simian level; like the apes, they snatched food for themselves instead of sharing it with the froup; like them too, the more powerful claimed more than their share of women: like them again, they were in a constant state of nettled aggression toward possible rivals. In short, they had alienated themselves from their distinctly human potentialities….”

 During such an era, Socrates challenged all the vanities and pomps of a materialistic worldview through his simple life and powerful teachings. He was very much concerned with the question of virtues viz. justice, piety, moderation, etc., culminating in human happiness. He believed that happiness depends not on external objects and luxurious life but on knowingly acting rightly. To achieve a good life, he believed people should focus on moral virtue rather than pursuing material wealth because virtue that consists of the right knowing always leads to the right actions. However, he did not indicate how one could obtain that virtue. According to him, one can achieve righteousness by questioning one’s moral beliefs. That’s why he was also known as a moral philosopher of that time. In his trial speech, he tries to explain the substance of his mission (Graham, 2016):

“Men of Athens, I appreciate and love you, but I will obey the god rather than you, and as long as I draw breath and have the ability, I will not stop philosophising and exhorting you and appealing to any one of you I happen to meet, saying what I always say, “Good sir, since you are an Athenian, a citizen of the greatest city and the one most renowned for wisdom and power, aren’t you ashamed of yourself for devoting yourself to maximising your wealth, your reputation, and your rank, while you show no interest at all in how to improve your wisdom, your honesty, and the state of your soul.”

 The philosophy of ‘right knowledge,’ propagated by Socrates, can be understood by the writings of his students, especially Plato. He concluded that ‘right knowledge’  free from all possibilities of errors of perception and judgment could not be achieved through senses because our senses are transient, continually changing and subject to decay and death. Thus, sensual perceptions are not enough to conclude this world objectively.

 The idea of ‘Good’, wisdom etc. belong to the super-sensible world (in contrast to objects which constitute the sensible world), and in Plato’s own words;

“…. in the world of knowledge, the idea of good seen, is also inferred to be the world of knowledge, the idea of good seen, is also inferred to be the Universal author of all things beautiful and right… the immediate source of reason and truth.. and that this is the power upon which he who would act rationally either in public or private life must have his eye fixed”.

In Plato’s philosophy, we thus find a consummation of Socratic teachings. Socrates taught that true happiness – the perfect realisation of one’s ‘being’ -  needs right action, which demands ‘right knowledge.’ This knowledge could dawn only with a clear understanding of the idea of ‘Good’, and Plato indicated that ‘divine contemplation’ of the super-sensible world would reveal the idea of ‘Good.’ The perfection of man thus necessitated a knowledge of super-sensible realities. Accordingly, in his Academy too, Plato emphasized ‘enlightening’ his students, creating a love of knowledge and wisdom rather than imparting any special skill.

  We thus find that Platonic philosophy is a complete antithesis of the materialistic worldview. Like Socrates, he mocked all attempts at finding happiness in the ‘sensible world’. He considered people who thought to become happy only from sensual pleasures as prisoners of an underground cave where one can never see anything else other than the shadows on the wall of their cave, and they assume the shadows as realities. It implies that people searching for happiness only in the domain of their sensual pleasures are unaware of their virtue and realities. True happiness lies in coming out of this ‘prison house’ of the ‘world of sight’ and willfully undertaking the prisoners’ journey out of the cave. He believed this was the real purpose of truly human life.

Thus, being practical moral philosophers, Socrates and Plato much focused on individual virtues that culminate in human happiness. They condemned happiness and values derived only from senses and advocated that ‘right knowledge’, which could not be possible with temporary senses, is required to get the virtues. Hence, the Socratic-Platonic thought was the antithesis of the materialistic worldview prevailing in the modern worldview.

 After briefly understanding Socratic-Platonic thoughts, we can now move towards ‘The Christian Worldview,’ which dominated the western world for over millennia.

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Prevailing Worldview and its Impacts

 

Note: All posts are interconnected, so you are requested to read the previous posts before reading this post. 

Materialistic Worldview (A worldview of crises)

A materialistic worldview is a worldview where a human being is considered the only body, happiness is seen as sensual pleasures, Nature is seen only as a resource to gratify sensual pleasures and relationships are recognized only if there is a materialistic gain. This worldview has dominantly influenced the modern era. But since all the sensory interactions are inherently transient in Nature, this can never lead to sustainable happiness. In an attempt to make it perpetual, continuous effort is made to maximize and perpetuate happiness through this mode by trying to evolve and indulge in more and more pleasurable material interactions of newer kinds. This naturally gives rise to ever-increasing `consumerism' or the tendency towards unlimited material needs. It is also responsible for the widespread modern ethos for profit maximization and increasing accumulation of enjoyable goods and services. The fallacy inherent in this perception can easily be recognized as, on the one hand, it directly leads to exploitation of the natural environment, in an uncontrolled manner, as well as other human beings leading to strife, disparities, violence and continuous environmental degradation; on the other hand, it is also responsible for engendering restlessness, tension, insecurity, fear, psychological problems and other incongruities within the human beings. Therefore, it proves counter-productive on all fronts. Any effort carried out under this worldview to perpetuate happiness, in fact, results in increasing misery on all fronts.

Further, under the influence of such a perception of happiness, efforts to ensure prosperity (which essentially implies the feeling of adequacy in fulfillment of our material needs) manifest in the form of triggering more and more accumulation of enjoyable goods and services. And yet one keeps feeling `deprived' and wanting more and more because inherently no amount of material accumulation can make happiness sustainable. Such a propensity has also been called human greed - ever wanting more and more and as Mahatma Gandhi proclaimed;

 `Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need but not for every man's greed'

  Inherent Dilemmas in the Materialistic Worldview

 The materialistic worldview is full of inherent dilemmas. The dilemmas are as follows:

 Undefined Growth:

The worldview motivates one to grow (in materialistic terms) more and more. However, the term 'Growth' is not defined yet and has a very vague meaning. That's why people make their own definition of growth. There is no line defined when we can say there is now enough growth and no need to move further. Everyone is following undefined growth, which ultimately culminates in dissatisfaction and unhappiness in an individual.

 The dichotomy in removing poverty with undefined prosperity line

The poverty line is generally established but not the prosperity line, which is primarily defined as the acquisition of increasing wealth. Such ill-defined affluence has widened the divide between affluence and poverty, both worldwide and inside countries, and poverty will continue to exist on the planet. Thus, all wholeheartedly efforts on poverty eradication result in marginal impacts. It can be understood through the following example: the difference in per capita income between the North and South tripled from $5,700 in 1960 to $15,000 in 1993. The richest 20% of the world’s people now own 85% of their wealth, while the poorest 20% (who account for 80% of the total world population) own just 1.4% .

 The Hesitation in Adopting Sustainable Consumption (SC)

The following reasons, in the form of hesitations, have been identified while adopting sustainable consumption; 

(i)             With the prevalent notion of the growth in society, if we consume less, it is seen as “low quality of living standard” (Living high quality/status of life means higher consumption). Thus, it results in a hesitation to live in a nature-friendly manner for sustainability.    

(ii)           It becomes a challenge for an individual, who has grown up with the materialistic worldview, to break one’s habits based on materialistic taste, the social pressure of standard of life, high consumption, etc.  

 It is interesting to note that modern development keeps following undefined and ever-increasing growth promoting tendencies for higher consumption, while we talk about sustainable consumption.

    In the present state of society, it is apparent that people are so much indulged in seeking sensory happiness primarily from materialistic things. Subsequently, the prevalent propensity to maximize sense gratification is now believed to be a perfectly ‘normal’ propensity and culminated in the belief that happiness lies only in sensual pleasures. The materialistic worldview is now so entrenched in society that it is now even difficult to visualize any alternative. 

    Though, the worldview in Ancient Greek (before the fourth century B.C.) was quite the opposite of the modern worldview, which gradually changed and culminated in the materialistic worldview. The next post primarily discusses the changes in worldviews during the medieval ages.