Defining the Ideal in Platos The Republic Essay -- Philosophy Religio

Defining the Ideal in Plato's The Republic In 1921, Vance Palmer, the famous Australian author and poet, noted, in his essay titled "On Boundaries", that "it is the business of thought to define things, to find the boundaries; thought, indeed, is a ceaseless process of definition". As Palmer noted, humans, by their very nature, attempt to define all things. But, more than that, we attempt to redefine subjects and ideas that have already been defined so that we can better understand what they mean, where we came from, and, perhaps most importantly of all, who we are. Writers, from the beginning of the written word through the present, have, almost in their entirety, strived to cast a new light on subjects that were previously thought to have been completely understood. Specifically, Plato, in his The Republic, struggled to define the ideal in the materialistic world. But, even after accounting for his opposition to the arts, his quest to define the ideal can exceptionally beneficial to the understanding of the theater. O nly through an exploration of these definitions of the ideal can one hope to understand them, and, more importantly, redefine them in the hope to create a new understanding of the medium and to move one step closer to perfection. In his Poetics, Plato defined his view of the world and the ideals that are a part of it. The core of Platonic thought resides in Plato's doctrine of essences, ideas, and forms. Ultimate reality, he argues, is spiritual. This spiritual realm, called The One, is composed of ideal forms or absolutes that exist whether or not any human mind realizes ... ... The perfect play may exist in the realm of Plato's The One, but I doubt that that ideal has ever been recorded. Perfection is something for which everyone has his or her own definition and opinion. How I define the ideal play will not be the same way that others define it -- and that quality is what makes it ideal. For in the unity created through the differing opinions, thoughts, and dreams, the ideal can be seen. And when someone captures that vision, and, most importantly, is able to record that vision in the form of the written word, that person will be the embodiment of perfection. That person will stood on the perfect table and looked into the perfect sky, seen the perfect play, and captured the ideal from Plato's The One. Of course, where can we go from there?