Phuong Nguyen
Philosophy
Midterm
Plato didn’t like democracy. He believed that only the rich can govern, and ordinary people cannot
because they have never learned to do it. In the “Allegory of the Cave,” Plato said ordinary people have
been con#ned by chains in an underground den their en$re lives, and the chains prevented them from
turning their heads. He argued that how these ordinary people lived madethem ignorant. Since most of
these people lived underground, they have no access to knowledge or are capable of learning or do
anything good.I think that his view on democracy is both valid and invalid. As for why it’s valid, I agree
that people who don’t have the skills to govern shouldn’t do it. If the ordinary people were forced to be
underground so only the rich had the opportunity to govern, then it was a cruel society they lived in.
Since Plato was born into a privileged family, it was easy for himto learn and have the knowledge to be a
part of the government. Same goes for everyone like him. The poor will con$nue to su(er as they are
born poor and con$nue to live in the underground. As for why it’s invalid, the poor will never get a
chance to learn and have the same opportunity as the rich.
Platoequated the transcendent Good as “Truth, Beauty, Knowledge or Jus$ce.” He talked about an
“eternal being,” which meant a “quality of being” that is a form or idea that is transcendent. I think the
transcendent Good is accessible to everyone.I don’t know if I can say that there is a transcendent good
