![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() They’re always crowding around the shipowner, begging him and doing everything possible to get him to turn the rudder over to them. Indeed, they claim that it isn’t teachable and are ready to cut to pieces anyone who says that it is. ![]() The sailors are quarreling with one another about steering the ship, each of them thinking that he should be the captain, even though he’s never learned the art of navigation, cannot point to anyone who taught it to him, or to a time when he learned it. The shipowner is bigger and stronger than everyone else on board, but he’s hard of hearing, a bit short-sighted, and his knowledge of seafaring is equally deficient. Thus Socrates invites his listeners to imagine a seafaring vessel in dire straits: While Socrates-the Athenian philosopher and mentor of Plato-is discussing with his young friends the nature of justice and the ideal political community, he finds it necessary to describe one of the perennial dilemmas of mankind-corrupt, ignorant leadership. Although somewhat overshadowed by the allegory of the Cave, the myth of the ring of Gyges, and other powerful images found in Plato’s Republic, the account of the ship of fools is still memorable and compelling. ![]()
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