tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676423713279237243.post637465097672711653..comments2023-09-12T08:43:11.657-04:00Comments on Principalities And Powers: Being Blunt on ObamaDavid C. Inneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12747926171305438726noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676423713279237243.post-3886263933183208152009-06-25T16:48:43.801-04:002009-06-25T16:48:43.801-04:00The philosopher king is an ideal that conceals an ...The philosopher king is an ideal that conceals an absurdity, if that isn't putting it too strongly. Perfect rule is the empowerment of wisdom. Wisdom requires philosophy. But as the philosopher is interested in the never ending quest for understanding, taking on the responsibility for rule doesn't interest him and it would be the greatest injustice, as Glaucon says, to force him to rule. Nonetheless, for the sake of political justice, he must be forced to rule. The further irony is that people are unlikely to make him rule because either they do not recognize him as wise or they jealously guard power for themselves.<br /><br />Plato does not offer his City in Speech as a blueprint to be put into practice. Socrates himself openly recognizes its absurdities. He uses it to show the features of justice and why it is so elusive in this world.<br /><br />I recommend The City and Man by Leo Strauss. Also Allan Bloom's "Interpretive Essay" in his edition of the work.<br /><br />As for President Obama, he is too post-modern to think of himself as a philosopher king. he does not bring right reason to the White House, but right feelings. If anything, he is the Pappa King. He watches over us, provides for us as a good provider, child-proofs our world, and he mediates playground scuffles worldwide. He is wiser than us children down here (and we just have to trust that), but, most fathers, not because he can give a rational account of things, i.e. not because he has knowledge, but because he has right opinion. His heart has been formed in the right way by his upbringing in diversity and by his experience as a community organizer. Beyond that, I don't know where he gets his enormous self-confidence (which by the way every effective President must have).David C. Inneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12747926171305438726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676423713279237243.post-33177130957197068272009-06-25T14:29:45.469-04:002009-06-25T14:29:45.469-04:00David--I'm in the process of reading Plato'...David--I'm in the process of reading Plato's Republic for the (gasp) first time with a Great Conversation group online. Do you think Obama sees himself as a philosopher king, able to create Socrates' "ideal" totalitarian state?Elenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15991839701441100085noreply@blogger.com