WISDOM

1. Plato believes that his Republic should be ruled only by Philosopher Ruler. To Plato philosophers are wise men because they are all lovers of knowledge. They seek knowledge for its own sake; and for the sake of nothing else.

2. Plato also believes that we always aim at the Good in all our actions; and all our actions are merely means to this end. Happiness is the Good. We work because we need money; we need money because we need food; we need food in order to remove the pain of hunger; we want to remove pain of hunger because we want happiness.

3. According to Plato only the wise can see reality; whereas the ignorant can only see appearances. Going by this premises it is logical therefore to have wise men as your leaders. Wise man makes judgment based on reality and judgment that is based on the truth would necessarily lead to the Good. On the contrary a judgment that is based on appearances would lead to the Bad. The Bad is the contradictory of the Good.

4. The Sophists claim that everything changes endlessly; therefore nothing is permanent; and consequently knowledge is impossible. Plato countered this by introducing the Platonic Forms. An example from Geometry would help to explain what Platonic Form is. When we see many square things, we form in our mind the idea of a square. To Plato this square really exists in Heaven; which is the Platonic Form, something eternal and unchangeable.

5. Plato therefore would only accept wise men as leaders.