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Lovers of Wisdom, Not Power—Lily Caswell

In Book VIII of Plato’s Republic, Socrates talks about the possibility of having a well-governed city. However, he also talks about how that particular form of government is impossible to have. A well-governed city becomes a possibility only if you can discover a better way of life for your future rulers than holding office.” (Plato, p 215) Maybe his version of a better life was for those in office to not be lovers of power, since it would then become a fight among rival lovers. Socrates gets to the point that the only rulers who don’t love power are true philosophers. Philosophers are lovers of wisdom and knowledge and not power, ergo they are the perfect rulers. Absolute power corrupts and power corrupts absolutely, so I’m thinking that maybe the trick to being a good ruler is for you to be a philosophical person who loves wisdom and not power.


I commented on Jamie’s and Isabelle’s posts.

Comments

  1. Braylan StringfellowOctober 5, 2020 at 9:15 PM

    I agree with what you are saying. We all agree that people who go into office for the sole purpose of getting power is corrupt and needs to be voted out. We need more people in office who have true wisdom from God and cares about the people, not themselves.

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  2. Logan TurnerOctober 5, 2020 at 10:51 PM

    I agree, we want people who desire wisdom more than power to become leaders. However, the people who desire wisdom and not power, are not even going to consider becoming leaders in the first place. After all, it makes no sense for someone who doesn't desire power to aim for a position of power in the first place. It's a regrettable Catch 22 that we're all facing. The people who WE want to be in power, don't want to be in power, and the people we don't want to be in power, desire power above everything else.

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  3. kaitlyn terryOctober 5, 2020 at 11:23 PM

    Ok a teeny bit of a side note, but i couldn't help but think of Newsies when you said "absolute power corrupts and power corrupts absolutely. " Katherine Plumber (Pulitzer) says "absolute power.. corrupts absolutely." during Watch What Happens. While she's talking about the issues with the Newspaper companies and the corruption there, I think it applies to the situation here as well! The owners enjoyed the power too much and made everyone beneath them miserable.

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  4. Haylee LyndOctober 6, 2020 at 8:22 AM

    I completely agree. The best people to go into power are those are are not lovers of power, those who are not seeking power. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you couldn't hold office unless you weren't seeking to(or at least not for the general reasons) similar to the way in which one cannot find Narnia if one is looking for it? Those in power would do what is best for the community as a whole rather than what is best for themselves or for their party's name.

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