Plato's Republic

BOOKS | Plato

The Republic_, a philosophical dialogue by Plato, is narrated by Socrates and features Glaucon, Adeimantus, Polemarchus, Cephalus, Thrasymachus, and Cleitophon, among others.

Initial Definitions of Justice

• Q: What is justice, according to Cephalus?

- A: Justice is simply speaking the truth and paying one's debts.

• Q: How does Socrates refute Cephalus's definition?

- A: Socrates illustrates that returning borrowed arms to a friend who is not in his right mind would be unjust, despite being a debt. He concludes that injuring anyone is never the act of a just man.

• Q: What is justice, according to Polemarchus, influenced by Simonides?

- A: Justice is giving to each man what is proper to him, specifically, doing good to friends and harm to enemies.

• Q: How does Socrates refute Polemarchus's definition?

- A: Socrates points out that people frequently err in identifying who their true friends and enemies are, which could lead to harming good people or benefiting bad ones. Furthermore, he argues that to injure anyone makes them worse in their human virtue, which is justice. A just person, by definition, cannot make another person unjust, just as a musician cannot make someone unmusical. Thus, to injure a friend or any one else is not the act of a just man, but of the unjust. He also suggests that if justice is useful primarily when things are inactive (like keeping money safe when not in use), then justice is "not good for much" and the "just man has turned out to be a thief" in certain contexts.

• Q: What is justice, according to Thrasymachus?

- A: Thrasymachus asserts that justice is nothing else than the interest of the stronger. He explains that governments establish laws in their own interest, punishing those who transgress as unjust. Conversely, injustice is a man’s own profit and interest, and the life of the unjust is more advantageous.

• Q: How does Socrates initially refute Thrasymachus's definition?

- A: Socrates contends that rulers can be mistaken about their own interests when issuing commands. If justice is simply obeying these commands, then it could lead subjects to act to the ruler's injury, not interest. He elaborates that a true artist or ruler, in the strictest sense, does not consider his own interest but the interest of his subject. Therefore, no ruler, insofar as he is a ruler, considers or enjoins what is for his own interest, but always what is for the interest of his subject or suitable to his art.

• Q: How does Thrasymachus defend his view against Socrates' analogies?

- A: Thrasymachus counters that a shepherd tends his sheep for his own benefit or his master's, not for the good of the sheep themselves. He reiterates that justice is another's good, meaning the interest of the ruler and the loss of the subject, while injustice is a man's own profit and interest. He further argues that the just person consistently loses out in private and public dealings, while the unjust, particularly in cases of large-scale injustice like tyranny, appears happiest. He concludes that injustice, when on a sufficient scale, has more strength and freedom and mastery than justice.

• Q: How does Socrates then counter the assertion that injustice is stronger and more advantageous?

- A: Socrates argues that injustice creates divisions and hatreds, making united action impossible in a state, army, family, or even within an individual. In contrast, justice imparts harmony and friendship. He posits that truly unjust individuals or groups would be "utterly incapable of action" due to internal strife. He then introduces the concept of the soul having an "end" or purpose, which is to "superintend and command and deliberate". He states that justice is the excellence of the soul, and injustice is its defect. A soul deprived of its excellence cannot fulfil its ends. Thus, a just soul and just man will live well and be happy, whereas the unjust will live ill and be miserable. Therefore, injustice can never be more profitable than justice. Glaucon, however, is not entirely convinced by this and seeks a deeper argument for justice being desirable for its own sake.

Unable to agree on the level of the individual

Glaucon and Adeimantus are not fully convinced by Socrates' refutation. They challenge him to prove that justice is desirable for its own sake and for its results, rather than merely for external rewards or reputation. Glaucon presents the common view that justice is practiced unwillingly, out of necessity and fear of punishment, using the hypothetical Ring of Gyges to suggest that if one could be unjust without detection, all would choose injustice. Adeimantus adds that justice is praised solely for its societal benefits and the blessings it supposedly brings from gods and men, rather than for its intrinsic value.

The Ideal State: A Model for Justice

To answer this challenge, Socrates proposes examining justice on a larger scale first, within a State, before applying the findings to the individual soul. He posits that a State arises from human needsand the specialization of labor, where individuals perform one task suited to their nature. This basic, "healthy" State initially provides only necessities.

Glaucon introduces the concept of a "luxurious State" ("State at fever-heat"), which necessitates a larger population, more territory (leading to war), and thus a class of Guardians (soldiers). These guardians must possess spirit, swiftness, and strength, but also be philosophical—lovers of wisdom—to be gentle to friends and dangerous to enemies.

Education of the Guardians The education of Guardians is divided into music for the soul and gymnastic for the body.

• Music (Literature): Strict censorship is imposed on tales, especially those misrepresenting gods and heroes.

- Gods must be depicted as good, unchanging, and truthful, being the cause of good only, not evil.

- Tales about Hades should be modified to remove the fear of death, making Guardians more courageous.

- Lamentations and excessive laughter by famous men or gods are forbidden.

- The "royal lie" (or noble falsehood) is introduced: only rulers may lie for the public good, others are forbidden.

- Guardians must be temperate (obedient, self-controlled) and not lovers of money.

- Imitation in poetry is severely restricted: Guardians should not imitate women, slaves, bad men, or animals; only the virtuous should be imitated, and mostly through simple narration rather than dramatic portrayal.

- Melody and Rhythm: These must correspond to virtuous words, avoiding sorrowful (mixed Lydian, bass Lydian) and soft/drinking harmonies (Ionian, Lydian). Only Dorian (warlike) and Phrygian (peaceful) are permitted, promoting courage and temperance. Simplicity in music leads to temperance in the soul.

• Gymnastic: Should be simple and austere, training guardians for military readiness and promoting health in the body. Excessive care of the body is inimical to virtue and study.

- Physicians are for specific ailments, not for prolonging "good-for-nothing lives". Good judges are those with a good soul, discerning virtue and vice not from personal experience of wickedness, but from wisdom.

• The harmony of music and gymnastic produces a harmonious soul that is temperate and courageous, integrating the spirited and philosophical elements.

The Philosopher Kings and the Myth of Metals

The selection of rulers involves rigorous testing of their steadfastness against pleasures, pains, and dangers. Only those who remain pure, like gold, are chosen as Guardians (rulers), while others serve as Auxiliaries. A "royal lie" or Myth of Metals is proposed to foster civic unity: citizens are born from the earth, and God has mingled metals in their composition—gold for rulers, silver for auxiliaries, and brass/iron for husbandmen and craftsmen. This myth allows for social mobility based on natural ability rather than birth.

Guardians are to have no private property, communal dwellings, and receive fixed pay (subsistence) from citizens to prevent corruption and maintain their focus on guarding the State. This communal life fosters unity, eliminating disputes over possessions, women, or children. The ultimate aim of the State is the greatest happiness of the whole, not the disproportionate happiness of any single class.

The Four Virtues in the State Socrates proceeds to identify the four virtues in the State:

1. Wisdom: Resides in the Guardians (rulers), the smallest class, who possess the knowledge to counsel about the whole State's welfare.

1. Courage: Found in the Auxiliaries (military class), who preserve the law-implanted opinion about what is to be feared and not feared, even in the face of pleasure or pain.

1. Temperance: A harmony or agreement throughout the State, where rulers and subjects concur on who should rule, representing the control of the better part over the worse.

1. Justice: Discovered as the principle of "one man, one work", where each of the three classes (Guardians, Auxiliaries, Craftsmen/Farmers) performs its own business and does not meddle in others' affairs. This specialisation and non-interference is the greatest good for the State.

Justice in the Individual Soul Applying the model of the State to the individual, Socrates posits that the soul also has three corresponding principles:

1. Rational principle: That which learns, superintends, commands, and deliberates, seeking truth.

1. Spirited principle: That which is angry, allied with reason against desires, and seeks honour and fame.

1. Appetitive principle: Represents desires for sensual gratification (eating, drinking, love) and gain, being the largest and most insatiable part.

A just individual is one in whom the rational principle rules, the spirited principle acts as its ally, and the appetitive principle is subject to their control, with each part performing its proper function. Injustice is defined as a strife or rebellion among these parts of the soul, where a part asserts unlawful authority against the whole. Virtue is the health and beauty of the soul, while vice is its disease and deformity.

The Philosopher King The State can only escape evil if "philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy". True philosophers are "lovers of the vision of truth". This distinguishes them from lovers of sights and sounds, who only appreciate the many beautiful things but not Absolute Beauty. Philosophers are lovers of knowledge (which relates to Being—the eternal and unchangeable) rather than opinion (which relates to Becoming—the manifold and variable).

The Idea of Good is the highest knowledge, the universal author of all things beautiful and right, and the source of truth and reason. It is likened to the Sun, which illuminates visible objects and provides for their growth, while the Good illuminates intellectual objects (Forms) and provides for their being and essence. The path to this highest knowledge is depicted in the Allegory of the Cave, showing the painful ascent from shadows (appearances) to true light (reality and the Good). Education is not implanting knowledge, but turning the soul towards truth.

The curriculum for philosopher-guardians includes:

• Arithmetic: Draws the soul towards abstract number and pure being.
• Geometry: Concerns knowledge of the eternal, creating a philosophical spirit.
• Solid Geometry: Though little known, it is essential for the third dimension.
• Astronomy: Studies the true motions and proportions apprehended by reason, not just visible stars.
• Harmonics: The counterpart to astronomy, investigating the natural harmonies of number.

These studies serve as a prelude to Dialectic, the "coping-stone of the sciences". Dialectic is the intellectual ascent to the first principle, the Absolute Good, and is the only science that dispenses with hypotheses to secure its ground. Philosopher-rulers are compelled to govern for the good of the State, despite their preference for contemplation, because only in such a State will those who are truly rich in virtue and wisdom choose to rule.

Degenerate States and Souls Plato describes five forms of government and corresponding human characters, moving from the ideal to the worst:

• Aristocracy/Monarchy: The ideal State ruled by the best (philosopher kings).
• Timocracy: Arises from aristocracy when discord leads to a focus on honour, military prowess, and wealth accumulation, with philosophers feared. The timocratical man is ambitious and contentious, eventually drawn to riches, having lost philosophy as his guide.
• Oligarchy: Emerges from timocracy due to an insatiable desire for wealth; power rests with the rich, citizenship is based on property. Defects include rule by the unqualified and the creation of impoverished "drones". The oligarchical man is penurious, suppresses desires out of fear for his possessions, and is uncultivated.
• Democracy: Arises from oligarchy when the poor conquer the rich, leading to excessive freedom and an equal share of power. It is characterized by variety and disorder, where individuals live as they please, disregarding established principles. The democratic man balances unnecessary and necessary pleasures, living a motley and lawless life.
• Tyranny: Springs from democracy's excessive liberty, leading to extreme slavery. The ruling drone class deprives the rich and promotes a "protector" who becomes a tyrant by subjugating the citizens, even his own "fatherland". The tyrannical man is drunken, lustful, passionate, and embodies the "wild-beast nature".

Happiness and the Immortality of the Soul The tyrannical State is the most enslaved, poor, and fearful, full of lamentation. The tyrannical man's soul is that of a slave, least capable of acting voluntarily, poor, insatiable, and miserable. A public tyrant is even more miserable than a private one. The ranking of happiness, from best to worst, is royal, timocratical, oligarchical, democratical, tyrannical.

The soul has three principles, corresponding to three types of pleasure: wisdom (rational), honour (spirited), and gain (appetitive). The pleasure of the intelligent part of the soul is the pleasantest, as judged by experience, wisdom, and reason. True pleasures are pure and relate to the invariable and immortal, unlike the fleeting, mixed pleasures of gain or honour. The tyrant lives furthest from true pleasure, while the king lives nearest. A calculation suggests the king lives 729 times more pleasantly than the tyrant.

An image of the soul depicts a multitudinous monster (appetitive), a lion (spirited), and a man (rational). The unjust man feeds the monster and lion, starving the man; the just man allows the man (reason) to master and harmonize all parts. Justice is profitable in pleasure, honour, and advantage. The law aims to establish divine wisdom within individuals, enabling self-governance. A just man regulates wealth and honours for the soul's harmony, living by the pattern of the ideal city, which exists as a pattern in heaven.

Critique of Imitative Poetry Plato concludes by reiterating the rejection of imitative poetry, as it is ruinous to understanding. The poet is an imitator, thrice removed from truth (God/Form, craftsman/object, imitator/image). Imitation is concerned with appearance, not reality, and is produced without true knowledge of the subject matter. Poets do not teach or improve mankind; if they did, they would be revered like gold, not allowed to wander as rhapsodists.

Imitative art appeals to the inferior, irrational part of the soul, which is easily swayed by appearances and contradictions. Poetry "feeds and waters the passions instead of drying them up," allowing them to rule and thus hindering happiness and virtue. Therefore, only hymns to the gods and praises of famous men should be permitted in the State, as they promote law and reason rather than pleasure and pain.

Immortality and Rewards of Justice The soul is immortal and imperishable.

It cannot be destroyed by external evils, only by its own internal corruption (injustice/unrighteousness). The soul, in its true nature, is the "fairest of compositions" and is seen clearly through its love of wisdom.

Justice, in its own nature, is the best for the soul, regardless of external rewards. However, Socrates then enumerates the rewards of justice from both gods and men:

• From gods: The just man is a friend of the gods and receives all things at their best.

• From men: The just man endures to the end of every action, receives good report, wins prizes, becomes a ruler, marries as he likes, and is honoured. The unjust, even if escaping in youth, are eventually found out, look foolish, and suffer greatly.

The dialogue concludes with the Myth of Er, a tale of the afterlife where souls are judged and then choose their next lives, enduring a thousand years of rewards or punishments for their deeds.

This myth reinforces the importance of choosing a just life, guided by the knowledge of good and evil, considering the soul's immortality.

Souls choose their "genius" (destiny), with virtue being free and responsibility lying with the chooser. Souls that had virtue through habit in a well-ordered state, but lacked philosophy, often chose unwisely in the afterlife due to inexperience.

The ultimate counsel is to "hold fast ever to the heavenly way and follow after justice and virtue always," for it benefits in this life and the afterlife.