At the opening of Book IV, Plato describes the virtues of a true philosopher; seek truth and wisdom, rejecting the unjust. At Adeimantus' insistence that philosophers are not as Socrates describes them, but instead useless, Plato proposes a metaphor in which a ship is manned by an incompetent captain, lacking any knowledge of navigation. The captain's inability to navigate gives rise to mutinous sailors, who seek to overthrow their current pilot and take control of the ship. Despite their undeniable lack of knowledge of seamanship, each claims to be better than the others and takes it upon themselves to compete for the helm of the ship. Amid the chaos on the deck rests a man uninterested in the sailors' bickering, focusing only on the stars above. To be a skilled pilot of a ship, it is imperative to possess knowledge of the craft of navigation. Therefore, the man who observes the seasons and the skies understands what is needed to maneuver a ship, making him the most skilled pilot. In Plato's analogy, this is the philosopher. He is not concerned about the mutiny of his fellow sailors, who represent the governors of Athens; rather, he applies his navigational skills to the situation, which, coincidentally, requires a navigator. However, stargazing is seen as a flaw in the eyes of sailors – a useless skill. The sailors aboard the ship of state are stuck in the first segment of Plato's line of metaphorical wisdom, because they see only shadows. They cannot advance to the higher segments of the line, as their passions and desires, such as the desire for control of the ship, have led them astray. Unlike the image of the ideal philosopher proposed by Plato, the sailors' logos has no control over them...... middle of paper ......distinguish one thing from another, a lack of passion for these characteristics creates a sense of discrepancy. For example, the virtue of a shoemaker would be, at least in the eyes of outside observers, to create footwear for the people of the city. However, if the shoemaker is passionate about mathematics, this conflict between passion and observed virtue may prevent him from living truly well. This, in turn, would make him less useful as a person to society, at least in Plato's eyes. As a result, I see living truly well as letting your passions for education in a specific subject fuel your advancement within that subject. This view goes slightly against the Platonic view of education, as Plato might argue that for a man to become truly educated, he must ignore all passions and concentrate on all forms of education, instead of concentrating on a single path..