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READING ASSIGNMENT
Plato, The Republic, trans. Desmond Lee: 130-156, 240-248
Armstrong. 372-387
Once again, please base your answers on the actual reading assignment and do
not draw on summaries such as Spark Notes, Cliff Notes, Wikipedia, or similar
sources.
WRITING ASSIGNMENT
Please answer the five questions below. For each answer you should write a
paragraph of 4-8 sentences. (You can write more if you wish.)
1 How is the quality of self-discipline different from wisdom and courage in a
state?
2 What is justice in the city-state, according to Socrates (speaking for
Plato)? Do you agree with his concept of justice? Why or why not?
3 What is justice in the individual? Do you agree with Plato?s idea of what a
just person is? Why or why not? What are some things a just person would not
do? Why not?
4 Do you believe that there is an exact parallel between a just person and a
just state or society? Why or why not?
5 In the ?simile of the cave??which is an allegorical account of a
philosophical education?why does the man who is freed from his chains have to
be forced to leave the cave? Why is it that, once he gets used to the real
world outside, he does not want to return to the cave? Why is it nevertheless
his duty to return? And when he does return, why do the prisoners in the cave
want to kill him?
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON PLATO
(Much of the information below is taken?with some alterations and
additions?from A.H. Armstrong?s excellent Introduction to Ancient Philosophy)
Plato (428-347 B.C.) was a wealthy aristocratic Athenian who became a devoted
student of Socrates from the age of 20 to 28. Heartbroken and outraged when
Socrates was executed by democratic Athens, he left the city, turned against
democracy, and travelled widely. When he got to Sicily he attempted to turn the
tyrant Dionysius into a ?philosopher king,? but they quarreled and Dionysius
sold him into slavery. Eventually he made his way back to Athens, where in 386
he founded a new type of educational institution (some historians call it a
university) to conduct philosophical training and research. It was called the
Academy.
The differences between Socrates and his student Plato are striking. Socrates
was a poor stone mason who never wrote a word or even claimed to be a teacher,
and who only left Athens when required to do so as a soldier during the war
with Sparta. Plato, by contrast, was a poet and mystic as well as a
philosopher. Nearly all of his works are dialogues?a literary form presumably
inspired by Socrates? discussions (which Plato witnessed) in the streets of
Athens. In these dialogues Socrates is usually the main character. Historians
generally believe that Plato?s early dialogues such as The Apology the Crito
accurately reflect what the real Socrates said and believed. However, as Plato
developed his own philosophy, the character of Socrates became a mouthpiece for
Plato?s ideas in dialogues such as The Republic.
Plato started to develop his own doctrine at the point where his master left
off. Socrates had taught there was such a thing as moral goodness, and that our
main goal in this life was to make our soul as strong and healthy as possible
by striving to achieve such moral goodness. But to do that he said we need to
know exactly what goodness is. Claiming that he was seeking that knowledge but
had not yet attained it, Socrates did not define what goodness (or beauty,
justice, or courage, etc.) is Nor did he explain just what the soul is. Thus
Plato?s task in further developing his master?s thought was to discover the
real nature of goodness and of the soul.
The eternal world of forms:
The two roots of Plato?s mature philosophy were the moral doctrine of Socrates
and the teachings of the Pythagoreans (who believed our sou1s are fallen gods
imprisoned in our bodies, and that if we live good lives and contemplate
eternal numerical truths, our souls can return to heaven after death). Plato
came to believe that there exists a world of eternal realities?the ?forms? or
?ideas??that are separate from the physical world our senses perceive, and
knowable only by pure intellect. All things in the physical world are imperfect
imitations (or shadows) of these divine forms. Such forms are not ideas in the
ordinary sense, but realities existing independently of the mind that knows
them. They are contained in and caused by a supreme Reality, the Good, which is
the highest form but also more than a form.
The forms are the realities that our mind perceives when it arrives at a true
universal definition?for example, of justice or courage or beauty. We pass from
individual cases of just or courageous behavior or of beauty to the universal
reality that lies behind them?the form of justice, the form of courage, or the
form of beauty. Whereas the physical world that we perceive with our senses is
a perpetual flow of ever-changing appearances of which no real knowledge is
possible, the world forms is unchanging and eternal. It is a realm of radiant
perfection and glory. And the moral forms such as justice and courage, once
perceived by the intellect, provide the eternal and objective standards by
which men must order their private and public lives.
Philosophical education:
How does the mind reach this divine world of pure forms? In the Republic Plato
says that through a rigorous philosophical education (including intensive study
of mathematics) the soul can ascend through the hierarchy of forms till it
reaches and perceives the highest and most universal form of all, the Form of
the Good. That Form is the ?sun of the intelligible world,? the cause of the
other forms. It is the first principle and the final explanation that is
?beyond being.? It transcends the distinction between forms and soul, object of
knowledge and knower. It is the single transcendent reality of absolute
perfection, and the ultimate cause and explanation of the universe.
The soul:
For Plato the soul is divine and eternal, and only temporarily attached to the
body (as the Pythagoreans believed.) The soul has known the world of Forms in
its previous divine existence before it was incarnated in a body. The soul has
three parts: 1) the highest or first part is reason, the rightful ruler of the
whole, which discovers the truth (forms). Its abode is in the head. 2) The
second part, located in the breast, consists of such potentially noble emotions
as competitive ambition, love of fame and achievement, or just anger and
indignation. 3) The third part consists of the lower, carnal lusts and desires,
and is centered in the belly and adjacent regions. The spirited or soldierly
part is obedient to reason and its faithful support in the inner commonwealth
of man. The animal part is rebellious and can only be brought under control of
reason after a hard struggle. That is why reason needs the help of the spirited
part of the soul to control the appetitive part.
Eros:
Besides the single control of reason, there is another unifying force for
Plato: Eros or Desire. This is the motive force behind all thought and action,
the drive of longing after a good unattained which impels the soul on without
rest till it is satisfied. Its force can be used by any of the three parts of
the soul that gain power in a man. It can be squandered on base ends, directed
by the spirited parts to such ends as acquiring honor, or it can drive the
philosopher from desire of mortal beauty until at last he reaches the absolute
and unchanging beauty of the World of Forms. Thus the soul has a single
rightful ruler, reason, and a single driving force, Eros. Humans are not truly
human unless reason rules the soul, illumined by the eternal truths of the
forms, and desire is directed toward the attainment of that transcendent world
of forms.
The ideal city-state:
Plato?s Republic begins with an attempt to define justice, and soon morphs into
a detailed description of an ideal city-state set forth by the character of
?Socrates,? who is here speaking for Plato. This ideal state is very much a
hierarchical society ruled by a small class of ?wise men? or philosophers (or
by one philosopher king) in alliance with a warrior class (or ?auxiliaries?)
who obey the philosophers and defend the state. At the bottom of the hierarchy
is the majority–a large class of craftsmen and businessmen. The philosophers
are men (or women) who after long training have attained a vision of the forms,
which is what makes them wise and qualified to rule the state. The philosophers
and warriors have wives in common. All family life and private property?which
might make them put selfish interests above those of the state?are forbidden to
them (unlike the lowest class). Children of the philosophers and rulers are
raised in common and do not know their natural parents.
It is interesting to note that Socrates (speaking for Plato) says that women
are capable of pursuing all the same occupations as men. Young children of both
sexes in whom the faculty of reason or intelligence is exceptionally powerful
will be educated as philosophers who hopefully will achieve wisdom and rule the
state. Those children in whom the ?spirited? or competitive part of the soul
seems to predominate will be educated as warriors or ?auxiliaries? who obey the
philosophers and defend the state. And those in whom sensual appetite
predominates will be educated as craftsmen and businessmen who provide goods
for the state. (But not to give Plato too much credit, Socrates also indicates
that in each group, men will tend to perform these jobs somewhat better than
women.)
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