Turning to the philosophy of Plato to examine whether the government should censor art.
Should communities censor images, books, art, music not congruent to the morals and standards of a community, regardless of how people feel? Is there a moral and philosophical justification for censoring offensive things?As a retired teacher, I have the luxury of reading the classics with a leisurely eye toward dialectic discussions with my good friend Rafael Castillo. I asked him whether censorship should be allowed in public libraries.
It was an ideal republic ruled by reason, not emotions. Plato saw his own democracy admired andromorphic gods who displayed the worst human foibles. He argued that flawed ideas must be rigidly controlled and censored because people tend to be easily influenced by evil ideas and thereby degrade the body politic.
Plato began his critique of Greek religion because the education system required memorization; Homer’s epics about the gods and their meddling and violence were taught to young boys and a few aristocratic girls. These Greek gods routinely committed adultery, rape, bribery and other cruel acts. He questioned their divinity and the requirement of depravity, murder and infanticide as rational and good.
Plato admired virtue, honesty and justice in people, and argued that actions of good people were greater than the immortality of the gods. As such, young people must not be exposed to tales and stories of wicked behavior, lest they become corrupted.Of course, the values of the guardians, Plato argued, require that for the state to be good, it must have good citizens. All good citizens are those who wish to be worthy and good.
Because of this, Plato taught democracy would always fail because it produces tyrants and because ordinary people can be duped into supporting strongman rule by cunning, false promises and lies. In time, these tyrants would become increasingly corrupt, egotistical and whimsical, surrounded by sycophants and inflicting misery on the very people they promised to save.Julian S.
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