>2017 >still no Philosopher King was Plato, dare

>>8758603
In regards to Utopia, yeah.

Western society allowed idiots too many rights and privileges, and therefore a perfect society is unattainable.

>>8758603
>>8758609
We have Trump now, cucks

>>8758611
Exactly my point.

>>8758603
There have been philosopher kings throughout history, one of Plato's pupils was a king. The problem is that they are awful.

>>8758633

Rip Marcus Aurelius and his legacy thanks to random anon

>>8758642
He's not really a philosopher king as Plato saw it. The king is writing good at writing ideology for the state, Aurelius' work was disseminated throughout the empire.

>>8758603
Wrong about what? He explicitly states that the ideal city is unattainable

>>8758603
life long politicians, bureaucrats, lawyers, think tanks are the philosopher kings.

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I'm no philosopher but his theory of forms is really cool.

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>>8758633
>There have been philosopher kings throughout history

>>8758633
>There have been philosopher kings throughout history, one of Plato's pupils was a king
Dion? He was a shitter

>>8758693
Yes that is who I was thinking of. After him Plato backtracked on the whole philosopher king thing.

>>8758603
not really, read what he writes about democracy in Republic and tell me he's not 100% describing our current condition in the west.

James I of England saw himself as a philosopher king.

>>8758720
Pee pee poo poo you are a foo' foo'

>>8758709
>>8758633
>Dion
>philosopher king

Literally the entire relevance of the (possibly spurious) Letters lies in the fact that Dion was absolutely not a philosopher king, and left Plato disappointed in his single best chance at enacting his political theories.

He was also not a "pupil" of Plato; he was a snarky little cunt who effectively locked Plato in Sicily and kept pretending he wanted to philosophize, but didn't want to put in the time Plato believed is necessary to do so.

>>8758664
He says the perfect model of the city is unattainable; he does not say how, exactly, the execution falls short of the paradigm. If he had been clear about that issue, there wouldn't be countless essays arguing about the presence or absence of irony, about Callipolis being a utopia or a "mere utopia," etc., see the entire Straussian tradition of reading Plato.

Plato said a philosopher would only accept to be king in a society of philosophers. So, no; it won't come around

Also, at the end of the second book of the republic, he presents a much better society than the one they arrive at.

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>>8758603

> still no philosopher king
>

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>>8758603

yeah he's Plato, with the face of Leonardo Da Vinci.

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>tfw ur a philosopher king and noone knows it

>>8758685
Philosopher-hustler King.
Plato was not wrong!