Notes on Plato’s Laws: Similarities Between Cleinias and Hobbes

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In Plato’s Laws, the Athenian asks Cleinias (who represents Crete) why their law ordains that they should have “common meals and gymnastic exercises, and wear arms.” Cleinias says that “all these regulations have been made with a view to war.” The legislator (must have) believed that “all men are always at war with one another.” And “for what men in general term peace would be said by him to be only a name; in reality every city is in a natural state of war with every other, not indeed proclaimed by heralds, but everlasting.”

This answer reminds me of Thomas Hobbes, who, in Leviathan, writes:

There Is Alwayes Warre Of Every One Against Every One Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common Power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called Warre; and such a warre, as is of every man, against every man. For WARRE, consisteth not in Battell onely, or the act of fighting; but in a tract of time, wherein the Will to contend by Battell is sufficiently known: and therefore the notion of Time, is to be considered in the nature of Warre; as it is in the nature of Weather. For as the nature of Foule weather, lyeth not in a showre or two of rain; but in an inclination thereto of many dayes together: So the nature of War, consisteth not in actuall fighting; but in the known disposition thereto, during all the time there is no assurance to the contrary. All other time is PEACE.

Hobbes and Plato’s character Cleinias seem to agree that war exists naturally between people and that the state of war is the natural state even when there’s no fighting going on. It looks like the main thing they don’t align on is the definition of peace. For Cleinias, there isn’t real peace because the underlying condition is always war. So, peace is only a name. It is like a bedsheet covering a dirty mattress. For Hobbes, peace can exist when there’s a power that enforces it.

References:

Plato. Laws. Translated by Benjamin Jowett. Apple Books, 2008.

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. Apple Books, 1679.

Notes on Plato’s Laws: Divine Goods and Human Goods

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In Plato’s Laws, we read that the object of laws is to make men “who use them happy, and they confer every sort of good.”

“Goods are of two kinds,” Plato says. The human goods (or lesser goods) include health, beauty, strength, and wealth. The divine goods include wisdom, temperance, justice, and courage. And of them all, wisdom is the most divine.

Laws that focus on the divine goods automatically benefit and improve the human goods; however, laws that try to optimize the human goods end up depriving citizens of both.

Is it not the same when it comes to personal development? When one aims to become better, what must one go after? In today’s world, it is the norm to go after what Plato calls the lesser goods.

When someone decides to change their life, the first thing they do is change their diet, eat better, and go to the gym. This makes them healthier and stronger. Then, they change their wardrobe, the way they dress (and wear their makeup), so that they look better and become more attractive. Then, they start a side hustle or build their own business in order to become financially independent.

All of these things are good things, of course, but those who focus on them miss the point. They forget why they are after them. Or worse, they have not thought deeply about why they want these things so badly.

Deep down, we all want to live a meaningful, fulfilling life, and for that, we need to focus on acquiring the divine goods rather than the human goods. Because, as Plato says, “The state which attains the greater, at the same time acquires the less, or, not having the greater, has neither.”

References:

Plato. Laws. Translated by Benjamin Jowett. Apple Books, 2008.

Anger Management

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If you’ve ever been angry, and I’m sure you have, then you know exactly what Homer means when, in Iliad, he writes that, even to the wisest men, anger is sweeter than honey.

Have you observed that, when two people start shouting at one another, neither of them wants to stop? They are both impelled to escalate the argument and release more anger. Most of the time, both parties are even aware that they are crossing their limits with what they are saying, but they cannot stop themselves. This is why most arguments end in a completely different arena than the one they started in. And usually, the new arena is much more serious than the initial one.

To never be upset about anything, of course, is impossible. We’d be callow if we don’t acknowledge that. What matters, then, is not how one keeps anger at bay… but how one handles the emotion.

In Psycho-Cybernetics 365, Matt Furey tells us about the Zen monk who was asked if he ever gets angry. The monk’s answer to the question was: “Every day. But what used to make me angry for a few days or hours is now something I catch and neutralize within minutes.” The problem isn’t the number of times you get angry per day. The problem is you allowing the anger to extend and overstay its welcome.

Aristotle said something like, “It is easy to be angry, but it’s very hard to be angry with the right person, at the right time, and for the right reason.”

Like everything else, anger management takes practice.