Plato, Mills, and DuBois

Question 1

Education of the guardians

Answer 1

• The education of the guardians is very important because the “guardians” are now children who are the next ones to be in power to rule so their education must be overseen and made sure to be led by all the good stories in order to shape their character. The stories/ education they are getting now as children is important because once they are grown up what they have learned cannot be unaltered.
• This ability to distinguish between good and bad without ever having been directly exposed to the bad is the intended result of the guardians’ education.
• “The beliefs they absorb at that age are difficult to erase and tend to become unalterable”

Question 2

Censorship

Answer 2

• “So our first job, apparently, is to oversee the work of the story-writers, and to accept any good story they write, but reject the others. […] However, we’ll have to disallow most of the stories they currently tell.”
• Supervise the storytellers
• These stories “shape their souls”

Question 3

Stories about gods and heroes

Answer 3

-He uses these stories as tools to convey deeper philosophical truths or to illustrate his ideas about human nature, morality, and the pursuit of knowledge.
- - “Gods are not the cause of all things, but only good ones”
- Gods are unaltered and stay in their one form
- A god, then, is altogether simple, true in both word and deed. He does not change himself or deceive others by means of images, by words, or by sending signs, whether they are awake or dreaming.
- Heroes must never be presented as lamenting famous men as if their dying were a bad thing. Heroes should never be shown engaging in violent laughter since violent emotions in one direction usually lead to violent emotions in the other. Like the gods, they must always be portrayed as honest.

Question 4

Myth the metals

Answer 4

When god was forming them he mixed gold into those who were capable of ruling, which is why they are the most honorable, silver into the auxiliaries; and iron and bronze into farmer and other craftsmen. Eventually metals with mix, but gods greatest command was to make sure they guard very carefully the mixture of metals in the souls of their offsprings

Question 5

Lives of the guardians

Answer 5

• No private property
• Communal living
• Should receive wages for guardianship from other citizens
• No need for human gold because it lives inside of them as a gift from god
• Forbidden to touch silver or gold
• Spend their whole lives hating or being hated
• They want them to make sure nothing prevents them from being the guardians nor encourage them to do evil to the other citizens

Question 6

Civil liberty

Answer 6

Civil liberty: the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual
Liberty or freedom of an individual within a society to do certain things/ be understood

Question 7

Utilitarianism

Answer 7

• Utilitarianism is the theory that laws and actions should be judged as good or bad based on their utility, meaning the results they produce. For a utilitarian, the best actions or laws are those that produce the greatest good for the most people, and the greatest good over the least amount of pain
• The action is only right or wrong in its effect

Question 8

Harm principle

Answer 8

The harm principle is the idea that people should be free to act as they wish as long as their actions do not cause harm to others.

Question 9

Liberty conscience

Answer 9

• Freedom of opinion and sentiment on all subjects
• liberty of conscience to John Stuart Mill involves the freedom of individuals to hold, express, and act upon their beliefs and convictions without interference, as long as they do not harm others.

Question 10

Liberty of discussion/expression

Answer 10

Mill argued that the freedom of speech, discussion, and expression is essential for individual development, societal progress, and the pursuit of truth.

Question 11

Individual sovereignty

Answer 11

• individual sovereignty underscores the importance of respecting and protecting the rights and freedoms of individuals as autonomous agents capable of making their own choices and pursuing their own happiness. It is a foundational principle in his broader philosophy of liberalism and utilitarianism.
• Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign
• Education is the thing that essentially sets on up for individual sovereignty: education improves people
• “Should be free to form opinions, and to express their opinions without reserve; and sucj the baneful consequences the intellectual, and through that to the moral nature of man, unless this liberty is either conceded, or asserted in spite of prohibition”
• Their should be different experiments of living
• You are in control of your individuality

Question 12

“being a problem”

Answer 12

being a problem means being viewed as inherently different, inferior, or threatening simply because of one’s race. African Americans are seen as a problem to be solved or managed rather than as equal members of society with their own agency and humanity.

Question 13

Double consciousness

Answer 13

what it means to be black in america at the time that he is writing is to always think of yourself as yourself and the way that white people are thinking and seeing you

Question 14

Work, culture, liberty

Answer 14

• all these we need, not singly but together
• He argued that true liberty required not only the absence of legal barriers but also the dismantling of systemic racism and the achievement of social and economic equality
• He emphasized the importance of preserving and celebrating African American art, music, literature, and traditions as a means of asserting cultural pride and resistance.
• work as a means of economic empowerment and social mobility for African Americans