Just A Puppet | On Plato’s Philosophy of Dance

The artwork that I have chosen features an image of a puppet which signifies the idea of control and limitation. I have chosen this for this week’s journal because it is relevant with Plato’s belief in terms of ruling a state. Even though Plato views art as an imitation of the ideas in the world of forms, he still subscribed to dancing with respect to the roots of music, mathematics and the cosmos because of the fact that it promotes the idea of unity or harmony.

Harmony is the key concept in Plato’s propositions because it promotes how the society can become the very best form of itself if it only follows the strict laws that govern them, and for its people to fulfill the roles that they are supposed to do. Plato thinks that this is the only way for a society to develop, as it takes away the power of thinking for oneself, or to explore other ideas that are deviant of what the state provides. That is the very reason why he wanted to censor art, because it gives ideas that could potentially change the minds and emotions felt by its people and would hinder the society from functioning properly, since one is not doing his/her job well. 

In relation to that, dance is important for Plato as it promotes harmony. By dancing, people learn how to become disciplined and in good health, and this is used to an advantage by the state to keep the cogs of the city going, as if an individual rebels against it, the state would not flourish. 

To discuss the artwork that I chose, it is clear that the people that are enjoined in this certain society are like puppets, because the strings that make them work are the roles in which they are subjected to. Each of these people are molded to be a certain type of person due to the educational system that was implemented to them which started when they were younger. It restrains the things that they want to do, and it even takes away the characteristics that make them unique, which I found to be very problematic. 

It was only partially raised that the idea of dance can be turned into something more sinister in terms of its use in politics, and the thought never crossed my mind until then. This shows that even if things look good on paper, it does not mean that this system would work in real life. Trying to hold back people from the certain emotions that make us feel things is very cruel, and the fact that it was taken away means that certain areas of the society would not function as well, as it is the very core of what makes humans ‘humans’ in the first place. Living like puppets and pushing humans to conform would not only be an act of oppression, but it would also take away the heart of the society itself.