Written by Plato in the 4th century BC, The Republic is an investigation into the nature of justice and the requirements for an ideal political community. The work establishes a model for the just individual through the examination of a constructed city.
The Definition of Justice
Justice is initially defined by Cephalus as speaking the truth and paying debts. Socrates refutes this by citing the danger of returning weapons to a friend who is not in his right mind. Polemarchus identifies justice as doing good to friends and harm to enemies.
Socrates counters that a just man never performs acts of injury. People frequently err in identifying their true friends and enemies. To injure anyone makes them worse in their human virtue.
Thrasymachus defines justice as the interest of the stronger party. He asserts that governments establish laws solely to benefit the ruling class. Socrates maintains that a true ruler considers the welfare of his subjects rather than his own profit.
The Structure of the Ideal State
The ideal State originates from human needs and the specialisation of labour. Each citizen performs the single task for which his nature is best suited. This principle of non-interference constitutes the essence of justice in the city.
The population is divided into three distinct classes. Guardians serve as the rulers who possess wisdom to counsel the whole State. Auxiliaries act as the military class and embody courage.
Husbandmen and craftsmen provide for the physical necessities of the community. A noble falsehood called the Myth of Metals fosters civic unity. Citizens are told that God mingled gold, silver, and brass or iron into their souls.
This myth allows for social mobility based on natural ability rather than birth. Guardians live a communal life with no private property or dwellings. They receive a fixed subsistence pay from the citizens to prevent corruption.
Rulers undergo rigorous testing of their steadfastness against pleasures, pains, and dangers. Only those who remain pure are chosen as the highest Guardians. The ultimate aim of the State is the happiness of the whole rather than any single class.
The Tripartite Nature of the Soul
The individual soul consists of three corresponding principles. The rational principle superintends, commands, and deliberates in the pursuit of truth. The spirited principle seeks honour and acts as the ally of reason.
The appetitive principle represents the desire for sensual gratification and gain. Justice in the individual occurs when the rational principle rules the soul. The spirited part assists reason in controlling the insatiable appetitive part.
Injustice is defined as a rebellion among these internal parts. An image of the soul depicts a multitudinous monster, a lion, and a man. The unjust man feeds the monster and the lion while starving the man.
Orthodox theological interpretations of this tripartite status focus on human energies. Rationale, desire, and irascibility are faculties requiring purification through prayer and asceticism. Rationale remains on its correct course toward God through constant prayer.
Desire is cured through continence. Irascibility is harnessed through acts of love and channeled only against sin. The healthy soul contemplates virtue through intelligence and loves God through desire.
The Philosopher-King and the Idea of the Good
The State only escapes evil when philosophers become kings or rulers adopt the spirit of philosophy. True philosophers are lovers of the vision of truth. They seek knowledge of the eternal and unchangeable rather than mere opinion.
The Idea of the Good is the highest object of knowledge. It serves as the universal author of all beautiful and right things. The Good provides essence and being to intellectual objects just as the sun illuminates the visible world.
Philosopher-rulers are compelled to govern despite their preference for contemplation. Only those rich in virtue and wisdom are permitted to hold power. Their connection to the divine enables them to rule with scientific precision.
Late antique political thought applied this model to the Roman Emperor. The Emperor functioned as the vicar of Christ on earth. Philosophy became more accessible through the Christian faith.
The Justinianic Dialogue on Political Science modifies the absolute rule of the philosopher-king. It subjects the ruler to civic laws and the requirement of rule by consent. The king must respect the judgment of the citizens and the senate.
The Allegory of the Cave and Education
The Allegory of the Cave illustrates the difference between reality and illusion. Prisoners chained in a cave perceive shadows on a wall as true existence. One prisoner escapes to the outside world and encounters the true light of the sun.
The journey out of the cave represents the ascent of the soul to the spiritual realm. Education is the process of turning the soul toward the truth. The curriculum for guardians includes arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and harmonics.
Dialectic is the final stage of the philosophical education. It is the intellectual ascent to the first principle of the Absolute Good. This science dispenses with hypotheses to secure its ground.
Censorship of literature is mandatory for the education of the Guardians. Tales misrepresenting gods and heroes are forbidden. Gods must be depicted as truthful and the cause of good only. Poetry is restricted because it is thrice removed from the truth. The poet is an imitator of appearances rather than reality. Imitative art appeals to the inferior and irrational part of the soul.
The Degeneration of Political Systems
Governments and souls move through five stages of degeneration. Aristocracy is the ideal State ruled by the best individuals. Timocracy arises when discord leads to a focus on military prowess and honour.
Oligarchy emerges from timocracy due to an insatiable desire for wealth. Power rests with the rich and citizenship is based on property. This system creates a class of impoverished drones. Democracy develops when the poor conquer the rich. It is characterised by excessive freedom and variety. Individuals live as they please and disregard established principles.
Tyranny eventually springs from democratic liberty and leads to extreme slavery. The tyrannical man is drunken and passionate. He embodies a wild-beast nature and subjugates his own citizens.
The soul of the tyrant is that of a slave and remains miserable. The king lives 729 times more pleasantly than the tyrant. Happiness is ranked from royal to timocratical, oligarchical, democratical, and tyrannical.
The soul is immortal and imperishable. It cannot be destroyed by external evils but only by its own internal corruption. The Myth of Er reinforces the importance of choosing a just life.
Souls are judged after death and choose their next lives. Virtue is free and responsibility lies with the chooser. Following justice and virtue benefits the individual in this life and the afterlife.