So why not let the best qualified philosopher kings rule the country, at least as an experiment? What is Plato's view? The world is perhaps not rational enough for the people to accept the decisions of the philosopher kings. It would be too difficult for the people to accept (I believe this was CDC Reeve's view back in the day). MacIntyre suggests that different cultures have competing views of what is rational.... What one culture considers rational is not what another believes.
From my experience living on the Mexican border for many years, this is all but "crystal clear" to me: What the US considers rational is not what Mexico considers rational--from border talk, immigration, to food, to parties... absolutely no agreement.
Let's return to the discussion about the cave. According to Plato, when the PK tells the masses that what they think is knowledge is just opinion and nonsense, they get angry. To use the cave analogy, the shadows from the fire reflected on the walls of the cave are not knowledge. What the media projects as truth today is not.
Now turn to cable news. How would they feel if the people knew their news was merely rumor and gossip? Yet, the people would not support systematic investigation into the truth about issues like health care and gun violence.
Perhaps the PKs do not want to rule because the truth is more hairy than shadows on the cave wall. The issue becomes an question of epistemology--can we know the truth clearly enough to convince people of its veracity?
Sunday, May 26, 2013
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