Origins: The Chicken or The Egg

Although many of Plato's ideas are unrealistic found within Plato’s Republic some part of me does agree with the idea that there are certain aspects of human nature that have been further developed through our nature functioning in a society than simply from innate aspects. For my first example I will discuss a problem that has plagued our humanity since day one: War. In Plato’s Republic he states that by censoring war myths to the youth of the society this can eliminate war altogether. This statement originates two issues: 1) War is a learned experience and not a natural part of nature and 2) By eliminating all ideas surrounding war in a culture than war altogether will be nonexistent.
In order to fully comprehend Plato’s idea of censorship I will argue both sides of the point in order to clarify the topic completely. First I will argue how this could possibly work. If a child is brought up learning stories of love and understanding while being taught to solve every situation through a method of communication instead of violence than a society free of violence is possible. How can someone who has never seen or heard of throwing a punch or firing a weapon be capable of such actions? This idea is hard to swallow for every one that will read this post will have experienced violence in more than one form therefore imagining the concept of a lack of violence in society will be hard to grip also making this idea hard to swallow. I do agree that there are some aspects of our nature that are innate, such as when suffocating air from any being there will be a forceful retaliation since it is nature’s way of securing the most vital part of life: life itself. This is where Plato’s concept hits some uncertainty.
The other side of the argument will insist that a society free of violence can never be completely free of violence because a member of a society will eventually succumb to the rawest of human emotion – anger. If not within the society than the influence will come in from an outside culture or society. Unless Plato wants to separate Greece from the rest of the world than violence will undoubtedly be introduced in his society for there will be another society out there in the world that believes only in violence to solve their situation. Can anyone say the Romans?
Even though my deepest of feelings want Plato to be true in his theory, reality forces me to believe otherwise. As long as there are people, there will be violence. Regardless of the amount of censorship and lack of talk about violence, it is as part of nature as breathing. The best example of this is in animal nature. There are predators, and there is prey. A tiger does not sit down and explain to another tiger how to hunt, how to kill, and how to survive. There are natural elements involved that cannot be taught or explained. Violence is nature.