3. Decode the message of beauty

"Why do we like beautiful things?", Plato asked.

We find things beautiful when we unconsciously sense in them the qualities we need but are missing in our lives. Gentleness. Harmony. Peace. Balance.
Thus, they have a very important function. They help to educate our souls.
Ugliness does the opposite. It parades dangerous and damaged characteristics in front of us. It makes it harder to attain good values.
Plato sees art as therapeutic. It is the duty of artists to help us live a good life.

140

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Plato wanted to know: how a society could get better at producing not military power but fulfilled people?

Athenian society was very focused on the rich and sports celebrities. Plato wasn't impressed: It really matters who we admire, because that influences our outlook, ideas, and con...

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Born in Athens in 428 B.C.E, Plato was the world's first true and probably the greatest philosopher.
He devoted his life to one goal: helping people to reach a state of what he termed: Eudaimonia or fulfillment.
He wrote 36 dialogues: beautifully crafted scripts of imaginar...

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Plato wanted to end democracy in Athens. He observed how few people think properly before they vote and therefor we get very substandard rulers.
He didn't want to replace democracy with dictatorship; but he wanted to prevent people from voting until they had started to think ratio...

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Plato says: "True love is admiration."

The person you get together with should have very good qualities that you yourself lack.
By getting close to this person, you can become a little like they are.
The right person for us helps us grow to our full potenti...

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Thinking: the talking of soul with itself

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Sometimes we just go along with 'Doxa' or popular opinions.
Plato showed this common sense to be riddled with errors, prejudice, and superstition. "Fame is great", "Follow your heart", "Money is the key to have a good life".
Popular opinions edge us towards wrong values, ca...

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