In reading chapter three of The Republic, I find it interesting how the discussion progresses on the topic of somehow creating the ideal man by censoring that which would hinder a man from being so. "If they are to be courageous they must learn still other lessons." From this, we read on to find what essentially turns out to be a list of virtues that should be established in young men by the way of censoring those emotions or thoughts that prevent those virtues. Some of the virtues we find are no fear of death, no over-fondness of laughter, and one that I found particularly relevant for our honors class, that they would prize truth.
The virtue I would like to focus on however, goes along with having no fear of death. Specifically, the issue here is when Socrates speaks of deleting the lamentations of famous men. When, after stating this as one of many virtues, Socrates goes on to quote several instances in Homer where great warriors, kings and gods are all portrayed in deep and heartfelt agony over death and loss, the problem thus arises that young men would see these great men and gods and feel no problem with acting accordingly. The problem I found with this is that these men take it upon themselves to determine what is good for those young men to know. When I think of censorship, I really cannot help but think of instances like society in George Orwell's 1984 where a small group of people take it upon themselves to determine the knowledge of others. Maybe I'm just ignorant, but then again I've never been a big fan of being politically correct either.
PS I commented on Becca's
No comments:
Post a Comment