Plato on Lockdown

The UK government response to the coronavirus outbreak has turned conventional life on its head. Social life, travel, and even education are no longer able to continue in the way they once did; the dramatic change which the world has undergone sometimes seems dystopian.  In his Republic, Plato details an ideal world which, if examined just a year ago, would not have seemed remotely achievable in practice; now, though still far from being totally Platonic, ideals which he focused his Republic around seem more prominent in our own society.

Plato developed idealistic philosophies of forms designed to endure in spite of social change; the inherent timelessness of his philosophical ideas make him a fascinating character to study in this famously unprecedented era. His ideas about authoritative government are interesting to compare with our own nation’s authoritarian response, and his extensive writings about treatment of the sick, freedom of will, virtuous conduct, and imprisonment, create fascinating material to compare with attitudes prominent in our society and government today.

Plato's ideas may be controversial to most readers: he would, for example, have likely been taken aback by the obsession which people in the coronavirus age have with saving every life. However, the thing which I have found most striking when comparing Plato’s totalitarian views to attitudes today is how many of these seem to have been taken up so willingly by our modern world; indeed, I will argue that Plato would have approved thoroughly of authoritarian measures taken by the government, taking no issue with any restrictions on people’s free will. 

Good leadership is especially important, and difficult, in times of crisis; Boris Johnson’s popularity, illustrated by opinion polls, dropped dramatically over the course of lockdown. Similar public attitudes are reflected in accounts of the Athenian plague: Thucydides notes that “men… became indifferent to every rule of religion or law”, whilst Plutarch remarks that they became “altogether wild against Pericles.” Plato may have blamed this on democracy, which Plato lists as the fourth of his five regimes, crediting it with being a forerunner to tyranny. As pointed out by Atkinson, the Athenian plague “put to the test a participatory democracy, which was already in something of a political crisis.” Tendency to look for authoritarian leaders in times of crisis is noted by Plato; Popper observes his suggestion that the democratic man “may exercise his absolute freedom... by defying freedom itself and clamouring for a tyrant.” The Conservative government enjoyed a landslide victory in December of 2019; aspects of the authoritarian approach which this has enabled them to take are now criticised, such as their inconsistent policies and expediently announced lockdowns. Would Plato have argued that this is the fault of the democratic system, enabling leaders other than “the best” to be selected?

Many Athenians held their democracy as a prized symbol of their advanced culture, but Plato would likely have approved of a more authoritarian approach. Popper notes that “The re-establishment of democracy and peace meant no respite for Plato”, whom it left bereaved of two uncles and his much admired teacher Socrates. Popper also highlights Plato’s insight that “his contemporaries were suffering… due to the social revolution which had begun with the rise of democracy.” To a modern freedom enthusiast, Plato’s detailing of democracy's failings seems strange; McLoughlin notes Plato’s equation of democracy to “liberty to pursue whatever one desires without government interference in more private settings.” This sentiment appeals to the democratic soul, but it is interesting that less democratic nations have indeed been able to enforce stricter measures to control the virus; in China, a full lockdown was immediately implemented, which would never have been possible in Britain. Popper highlights Plato’s undemocratic ideology when he juxtaposes Plato’s claim that nobody’s mind should be “habituated to letting him do anything at all on his own initiative” with the words of the contemporary democratic leader Pericles, who said: “Although only a few may originate a policy, we are all able to judge it.”

Interestingly, life in lockdown, especially in the initial response, has in some respects begun to emulate Plato’s description of his ideal Republic. State structure, separated into three classes - gold philosopher kings, silver warriors, copper craftsmen - is comparable with the distinguishable groups of government, key workers, and ordinary citizens. The idea of the “philosopher king”, evident when Plato says that warriors and craftsmen are “naturally fitted to leave philosophy alone and follow their leader,” could be compared to authoritarian approaches taken by governments today, who have not taken any democratic measures before implementing extreme restrictions which drastically affect every citizen.

Plato details plans to ensure public compliance by use of a “noble lie”, describing an “ingenious mode of bringing into play one of those seasonable falsehoods.” Simplified slogans, visible on any billboard, which gloss over complicated problems posed by the virus, would therefore have appealed to Plato, who disapproved of citizens hearing “without scruple any fables composed by any authors indifferently.” He would have especially enjoyed the online world, which grants power to manipulate via devices, whose tailored news feeds and persistent presences in our lives make it difficult for citizens to have thoughts which are different to those which are highlighted on their screens.

To a democratic ear, these measures sound sinister; however, Plato writes that his aim is “not to make any one class pre-eminently happy, but to make the whole state as happy as it can be made,” a view mirrored in community-minded approaches taken today. Even lockdown itself, in spite of the general lack of productivity bound to hinder any state, would possibly have appealed. Popper, in his criticism of Platonic theory, remarks that for Plato “The perfect state… is the arrested state” because of his aversion to change, stemming from his theory of forms. Plato’s last work claims that “Change… is the greatest of all the treacherous dangers that can befall a thing.”

Plato is a particularly fascinating character to study in light of the conservative government’s decision to handle lockdown in such an authoritarian manner. His ideas have always seemed to me to stand in stark contrast to conservative ideology. Last December our country voted in a government which supposedly holds minimal state intervention, growth of businesses, and slow change as primary concerns and ideals. It should come as an eerie surprise that the government has used its power instead to enforce lockdown restrictions in the way it has done; no one votes for a Tory government and hopes for them to react in the manner of Plato in response to any crisis, no matter how unprecedented.

Tatiana Quintavalle is a first-year reading Classics at Christ Church.