Please read from Key Lessons from Plato’s Republic — Book I, as this story is part of a broader series on Plato’s Republic.
Given that only philosophers can have knowledge, they are obviously the most qualified to understand what is right for the city, and are thus in the best position to know how to manage and rule the city. If we just understood that they were noble, or at least not inferior in virtue to others then the friends of Socrates accept, we may be confident that they are the most qualified to rule. Luckily, we do know that by way of everything else, thinkers are superior.
A philosopher loves truth (“philosopher” means “lover of truth or wisdom”) rather than everything else; his whole soul searches for truth. This implies that it is important for the logical part of his soul to govern, which implies that his soul is just.
But, most ancient and modern philosophers are useless, and those that are not useless tend to be vicious. The new generation of philosophers has not been raised in the proper manner. Men born with a philosophical temperament, courageous, high-minded quick learners with recall skills, are rapidly abused by families and friends who expect to benefit from their natural gifts. They are motivated to pursue politics by their parasitic families and colleagues in order to gain wealth and influence. So, eventually, they are being led further from philosophical life.
In spite of the natural philosophers who are distracted from philosophy and tainted, though they have no right to be, other people who lack the right intellectual temperament hurry in to fill the void and become philosophers. These entities are aggressive and vicious.
The few who are good philosophers (those whose natures were somehow not corrupted, either because they were in exile, lived in a small city, were in bad health, or by some other circumstance) are considered useless because society has become antithetical to correct ideals.
Socrates compares the situation to a ship on which the ship owner is hard of hearing, has poor vision, and lacks sea-faring skills. All of the sailors on the ship quarrel over who should be captain, though they know nothing about navigation. In lieu of any skill, they make use of brute force and clever tricks to get the ship owner to choose them as captain. Whoever is successful at persuading the ship owner to choose him is called a “navigator,” a “captain,” and “one who knows ships.” Anyone else is called “useless.” These sailors have no idea that there is a craft of navigation, or any knowledge to master in order to steer ships. In this scenario, Socrates points out, the true captain — the man who knows the craft of navigation — would be called a useless stargazer. The current situation in Athens is analogous: no one has any idea that there is real knowledge to be had, a craft to living. Instead, everyone tries to get ahead by clever, often unjust, tricks. Those few good philosophers who turn their sights toward the Forms and truly know things are deemed useless.
All that we need to make our city possible, Socrates concludes, is one such philosopher-king — one person with the right nature who is educated in the right way and comes to grasp the Forms. This, he believes, is not all that impossible.
Key Observations : Continuing with the defense of the philosopher, Plato asserts in this section that the philosopher is not only the sole possessor of knowledge, he is also the most virtuous of men. Plato indicates that the philosopher’s association with the Forms determines his virtue. By associating with what is ordered and divine (i.e., the Forms), the philosopher himself becomes ordered and divine in his soul. He patterns his soul after the Form of the Good.
Plato also offers a more intuitive explanation for why the philosopher is virtuous. Since all of him strives toward truth, his other desires are weakened. He has no real drive toward money, honor, pleasure, and so on. In short, he has none of the drives that can lead to immoral behavior. He would never be motivated to steal, lie, boast, act slavishly, or anything else of this sort. His emotions and appetites no longer provide a strong impetus toward vice.
The most important subject for a philosopher-king, it turns out, is the study of Form of the Good. It is in understanding the Form of the Good, in fact, that someone gains the highest level knowledge and thus becomes fit to be a philosopher king.
The Form of the Good is responsible for all knowledge, truth, and for the knowing mind. It is the cause of the existence of the Forms in the intelligible realm, and the source for all that is good and beautiful in the visible realm. It is not surprising, then, that it is the ultimate aim of knowledge.
To reach understanding, an individual using the crutches necessary to thought, works his way up with philosophical dialectic toward the Form of the Good. Once you reach the Form of the Good, you have hit on your first principle, a universal proposition which makes all unproven hypotheses unnecessary. You now understand the Form of the Good, and all the other Forms as well. In a flash, you have reached the highest stage of knowledge.
