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Plato’s Idea Of ‘philosopher King’ And Nigerian Leadership Crisis
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1.4 METHODOLOGY
Because
this research delves into the political theory of Plato, we shall try
to employ expository method. Moreover, it has to be critically
evaluative, historically discursive and philosophically interpretative.
Some analysis will also be carried out.
1.5 DIVISION OF WORK
This
work surveys critically and carefully Plato’s idea of
“philosopher-king†and “Nigerian leadership crisisâ€. And in order to
ensure that no stone is left unturned, the work is divided into five
chapters.
Like many other political philosophers, Plato recognizes
the need for a civil society - to - be. But unlike many, and especially
in this particular polity, Plato maintained that if a civil society must
arise, it must be an ideal and must be perfect. Its leaders must be
worthy of emulation and well trained. In view of this, chapter one of
this research work takes a look at how actually the whole work will look
like-the aim of the research, the methodology and scope.
In the
second phase of this work, comes Plato’s political theory. There we
shall see the composition of any given political society.
Chapter
three is devoted to Nigerian leaders and their style of leadership,
beginning from the pre-colonial, post-colonial to present era.
The
fourth chapter is where I tried to tinker Plato’s political theory on
Nigerian circumstances. In this chapter, we see how possible it is, and
the relevance Plato’s idea to Nigerian leaders.
The final chapter deals with systematic criticism and evaluation of Plato’s piece. Here also, I offered my own contributions.
1.6 ANALYSIS OF CONCEPTS
It
is often presumed that we know, whereas we do not know. In view of
this, there is the need to give some explanation to some basic concepts
used in this work.
Again, terms or words sometimes assume different
connotation and meaning depending on the context they are used. This
makes it sometimes difficult to know exactly what a particular word
stands for.
It is on this ground that I wish to explain briefly,
some of the words used, or even, some of the words that would be of help
to us in understanding the work. Prominent among them are:
· PHILOSOPHY
The
term philosophy is an amalgamation of two Greek words “philein†and
“Sophiaâ€, meaning “to love†and “wisdom†respectively. Etymologically,
it means “love of wisdom†when combined together. It is a word Plato
attributed to his master Socrates, who called his students lovers of
wisdom.
In a more technical sense, it could be the ultimate or
essential nature of all reality by the use of natural reason.[7] The
concern of philosophy distinguishes it from other sciences. In a wider
use of the term, one can say that the habitual activity of human being
flows directly from his philosophy of life. Each person thinks about
life, and the sum total of this thinking constitutes an attitude towards
life, which in general shapes and guides his deliberate actions.
Nevertheless,
that a man sometimes does the wise or right thing is no evidence that
he possesses philosophical wisdom; rather what justifies him is his
ability to give grounds for his action that will stand up to cross
examination. In addition, philosophy proceeds by criticizing received
opinions, clarification and critical evaluation of belief and concepts.
For John Dewey, it is a “criticism of criticismâ€.
Apart from the above, B.C. Okolo defines philosophy as,
…that
department of knowledge that deals with ultimate reality, or with the
most general laws, causes and principles of things. In its general
tasks, philosophy tries to give a coherent and systematic account of
human experience and what grounds it.[8]
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