Criticism of Democracy -Ship/Beast simile

· Plato agrees that philosophers in Athenian society are either useless or dangerous, although they only become a danger when they’re corrupted. He proceeds to explain the democratic Athenian society has no use for them, and so they have no alternative but to stand aside from the corruption of political life. He uses the simile of the Ship to illustrate his point (pg 210)

The Simile of the Ship

· In the simile, each feature represents a part of Athenian society:

Ship = Democratic Athenian Soceity

Captain = Athenian people (the masses) He is big and strong, yet deaf and short-sighted, representing the short-sightedness of the people, who cannot see what is good for them in the long run. Lack the skills of statesmanship.

Crew = Politicians. Quarrelling amongst themselves, wanting control of the captain and the helm. They form factions, much like the political parties of the democratic society, and try to manipulate and persuade the captain in order to overthrow him. When a faction succeeds in taking control, the Ship’s journey becomes a drunken pleasure cruise. The crew members do not believe that navigational skills are needed to bring the ship into port.

Navigator = Philosopher. One who knows how to bring the ship to its port through using his knowledge of the star maps and the changing seasons. This represents the Philosophers ability to bring the state, and its people, to its ultimate destination through his knowledge of the Forms.

Port = The destination of human civilisation

Evaluation of the Simile of the Ship

Strength Effectively describes the role of people and politicians in the Athenian State and similarities can be drawn between our modern day democratic societies. Politicians do manipulate the voters, as their ethics change in accordance to the opinion of the masses. They do persuade people to vote them into power. The masses are powerful in democracy, for example, protesters can force politicians to take a particular course of action.

Criticism The masses may not be experts in long term economics, but can be said to know what is good for them, what makes them happy and what creates the most comfortable and fulfilling existence. Who’s to say that a drunken pleasure cruise is such a bad path to take?

Strength However Plato makes a valid point in that people do not necessarily know what is good for them in the long run. For example, people complain of taxes, yet if someone were to be involved in an accident they would benefit from the national health service.

Criticism Yet his criticism may not necessarily apply completely to our modern day democracy and our politicians. Can’t we be said to have become more aware of the problems and solutions to our civilisation’s difficulties? I.e. we are not so ‘in the dark’ about what is considered good for our society and that we aren’t leading a drunken pleasure cruise as Plato suggests? Aren’t we becoming more like experts?

Strength Though even if it was proven that, on average, the competence of the population was high enough to ensure that ‘the right choice’ was being made, we cannot be so equally sure of people’s motivations for their choices. In this aspect Plato makes a valid point on the reliability and expertise of the people.

Criticism Is it possible to be an expert at ruling a state? (Refer to criticisms of the Philosopher ruler)

Criticism What is the destination of the state? Plato does not fully explain what it is we should be striving for.

Criticism The simile demonstrates that sight-lovers (non-philosophers) will not take heed the Navigator. They find it difficult to comprehend navigational skills (the intelligible realm) as it has no immediate practicality in their lives. It appears that a shift in the collective consciousness is required to allow the philosopher to rule.



The Simile of the Beast