Plato’s censorship theory

The term "censorship" often carries with it a sense of untoward, inappropriate or repressive
secret.Plato whose terminus a quo was give a vivid definition of justice to his interlocutors
on the cause of deciphering what a justice is brought in the idea of censorship.The opening
move of Plato’s censorship theory is from the Greek.As we know, The Greek people have
basically two forms of education, consists "gymnastike" and "mousike.Gymnastike known as
gymnastic training understood generally as physical condition for the body.Thus,Mousike is
known as music,which is education for soul.According to Plato,soul is essential form of being
and whatever happens to souls,its happens to man totality.In order to have a magnificient
city,the guardian’s soul must be well formed through education.But education here is
associated with music and not gymnastic.It is also good to understand that Greek music
education is not restricted to our present day idea of music which includes mainly “rhythm,
harmony and melody” but also includes speeches, or poetry and literature, as well.” It is from
these components of music education that one sees the import and reasons why Plato
advocated for censorship.

Plato who ab nitio divided human beings into strata, believed that from birth one can either
be a ruler-guardian, guardian (soldier) or an artisan. Socrates and his interlocutors agreed that
“the young are so impressionable; they should not be allowed to hear just any stories.” It
suffices to say that censorship for Plato begins with “tales told to children.” The first is
Censorship On The Depiction of The Gods.Stories "must not depict the divine as the source
of evil," insisted Plato. This kind of information must be removed from any story, or in
modern parlance, forbidden. The gods are the origin and apex of goodness in Plato's view.
Gods cannot be held responsible for evil. Man does not need to hold himself accountable for
his evil deeds if the gods who created him and everything else are to be viewed as evil. For
Plato, the myth should be changed so that, even when the gods are depicted as punishing
men, it shows that they are actually looking out for man's best interests.

Furthermore, On the second note “they agreed that the gods must not be shown as changing
their form or deceiving human beings by false appearances.” According to Plato, the gods are
not in process. Despite their full actuality, they lack potency. Accordingly, depicting gods in
different tales as having or acquiring different forms portrays them as deceitful and
deceptions. It may be okay for humans to deceive one another, for example "to defend
themselves against enemies or to protect friends from their own foolishness or insanity," but
this cannot be said about gods, who are perfect and all good.

Next, the censorship on tales of afterlife.Thus, it is primarily a concern for warriors (soldiers).
Consequently, Plato did not depict the afterlife as a place of horrors because “They must fear
defeat in battle more than death.” Furthering on this, he said, “For a decent man... death is not
a terrible thing.” In other words, honorable death in the discharge of one's duty is actually
laudable and victorious, whereas cowardice in discharging one’s duty is horror; therefore, he
summarized that “the just city will portray the afterlife as a terrifying experience for those
who are bad.”

In addition to that,Censorship On Tales of Heroic Men.This aspect is closely related with that
of afterlife thus “such men, they hold will not be shown as grieving excessively for their dead
comrades, behavior that is evidently incompatible with the discipline of a good soldier, who
must fight on in defense of the city even when his fellows fall in battle.” The story of a heroic
man should be displayed as being at peace with the gods for having fought the good fight but
where reverse is the case Plato said it must be removed (censored). In the words of Plato
“good man is most of all sufficient unto himself for living well and , in contrast to others, has
least need of another.”

The Republic asserts that all arts should be censored. The task of the Platonic philosopher is
to take up the “ancient quarrel between philosophy and poetry” and to assert the State-
enforced dominance of philosophy. So, it follows from the integrated system of philosophy,
religion, education, and politics that the Republic as a whole calls for the suppression of most
art by the government. According to Plato, Socrates' conversation with Glaucon and
Adeimantus lists a series of complaints about poetry, music, and painting:

The first step, according to Plato, "will be to establish a censorship of the writers of fiction.
Let the censors receive any good tale of fiction and reject the bad; and we will desire mothers
and nurses to tell their children only the authorised ones. The majority of the stories that are
currently in use must be eliminated, but let them shape the mind with such tales even more
affectionately than they shape the body with their hands.