Is Effort the Basis for Esteem?
On Difficulty and Value in Plato's Republic
In Plato’s Republic, Socrates argues that we esteem those things we work for more than those we are gifted.
His two examples are wealth and poetry. Inheritors don’t esteem their wealth the way the “self-made” do. Similarly, poets admire their own work (which they labor for) more than the work of others (which they inherit, as it were, but don’t create themselves). A lousy poet prefers his own work to that of Homer, Virgil, and Dante.
Of course, if Socrates is correct, then poets should love the work that is most difficult for them to write more than the work that comes effortlessly.
Artists should prize not their best work, as defined by the end-product, but the most that most challenged them.
Do you agree with Socrates? And if so, how much?
Don’t you esteem some things more than others simply because they are better? If you work really hard at learning a language, but remain mediocre—will you value that language more than your native tongue (prizing the challenge of learning a new thing above the outcome of fluency?)
It seems that if Socrates is correct, he is correct along only one axis. What other axes might you introduce if you were to model our esteem for our possessions?
Finally, let’s ask if Socrates’ claim is culturally contingent. Perhaps there are cultures or contexts where gifts and inheritances command more esteem than possessions we have earned through our own effort. What would such a world or culture feel like?
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