Monday, July 1, 2013

Who were the drones specifically in Plato's Republic Book 9?

Specifically, I do not think that the drones are any
individuals in particular.  Instead, they are part of the personality of a certain type
of individual.  The drones are the part of a person's personality that let his evil
impulses rule him.  When this happens, the person becomes
"tyrannical."


What Plato says is that all people have bad
impulses but that we have ways to master those impulses.  But some people (usually
because of having bad influences in their lives) stop trying to master those impulses
and they come to have a "master passion" that just tells them to give in all the time. 
That "master passion" is the drone.  Here's a quote that might
help:



his
father and friends take part with his moderate desires, and the opposite party
assist
the opposite ones. As soon as these dire magicians and tyrant-makers
find
that they are losing their hold on him, they contrive to implant in him
a master passion, to be lord over his idle and spendthrift lusts --a sort
of monstrous winged drone --that is the only image which will adequately
describe him.


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