Socrates and Plato were always perceived as wise philosophers and changed the perceptions of the society and the insufficiency of the government while underlining the gravity of the principles of good and bad. Socrates’ dialogue with Glaucon about the darkness of the cave and puppet-like nature of the world was the primary inspiration to continue developing the ideas in this sphere. When finding a connection of the Socrates’ metaphor with the reality of the modern world, I came to a conclusion that the governmental institutions and political ideologies do not fulfil their roles and only blur the borders between good and bad, and truth and lie. Nowadays, the political regime dictates the rules to be obeyed while encouraging stagnation and prohibiting development and enlightenment. Is it time to introduce a new system of the enlightening democracy that will base its values not only on freedoms but also on the real values?
In the modern world, the democratic regime is prioritised, but on the other side, the actions of the individuals are controlled by the well-developed social system and religious beliefs and dogmas. It could be assumed that these social instruments were established to ease the life of the society, but they can also be viewed as the main instruments of control. For example, it could be noticed that the majority of the advertisements tend to promote various tangible products while the actual values are being only partly reflected. At the same time, with the help of commercials, it could be assumed that the government shapes the desired behaviours to have a beneficial impact on the financial prosperity of the country. It seems that the advertising segment works together with the governmental agencies, as it is one of the most effective ways to control the actions of the individuals.
Originally, love, friendship, family, happiness, and health were perceived as the main social values in the recent past. However, a domination of social media not only manipulates the perceptions of good and bad but also imposes the importance of wealth and reputation. In this case, people tend to prioritise being rich over spending time with their families and friends while being cherished and loved. With the help of social media, envy and pseudo-values continue to spread delusion while making the enlightenment impossible. In this instance, these factors contribute to the development of the conflict between real and false values in the life-long competition while trying to control the collective consciousness of the society. As a consequence, the current progress can be perceived as degradation and regression with the devaluation of the real values of the society, and it seems to be beneficial to enhance governmental control, doesn’t it?
It could be said that one of the main reasons for the development of the unfavourable values is the fact that the modern society tends to be at the stage of stagnation. It may seem that the majority of individuals are not interested in education and personal development. In this case, new concepts of democracy of enlightenment can help progress towards the maturation phase and see clearly by reaching enlightenment. It remains apparent that this philosophy is based on three postulates that include education, enlightenment, and prosperity. The dimension of education attempts to expand knowledge of the individuals concerning the functioning of the world and society, and this matter has to be financed by the government, as people are the main assets of the country. After the completion of the educational phase, the individuals have to focus on restoration of the real values while creating innovations that will ease the educational process and make living interesting. The last stage can be considered as an outcome of the first two phases combined, as only pursuing them will lead to the financial prosperity of the nation. It could be said that that the introduced model changes a perception of the government in the society. Decreasing the power distance makes it a friend, who is interested in helping restore the forgotten values and contributes to its continuous learning and development.
Overall, it could be said that the government has to pay vehement attention to its actions, as they have a reflection on the social and personal values. It could be assumed that restoring and maintaining the original beliefs such as the significance of love and health prosperity will assist in minimising the levels of crimes and increasing the acts of benevolence and altruism in the modern world. Paying attention to these concepts may decrease the degree of prejudice and discrimination while depicting the fact that the actions of the governmental authorities cannot only be destructive but also proactive. Trying uniting the nations together to restore the common values will reduce the levels of egoism and encourage learning, knowledge-sharing, and caring about others. It could be said that the implications indicated above can be reached with the help of democracy of enlightenment that is based on the postulates such as education, enlightenment, and prosperity. It may seem that this philosophy is utopic, but its concepts may change the role of the government while making the world caring and interesting to live in.