Plato - The Republic - Book IV - Copy PDF

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Download Plato - The Republic - Book IV - Copy PDF

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READ Plato’s Republic (assigned chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7:sections 514a2 to 517a8, 8) Book 4: In Book III, Socrates was discussing the hypothetical just city and the positions of the citizens. While talking about guardians, who are now rulers, he mentions that they will have no wage and everything they have will be provided by the city. Adeimantus disagrees with this in Book IV and says that being a ruler would be unpleasant. With no wealth, he can not take a trip, keep a mistress, or do things that typically keep people happy. Socrates reminds him that the goal in this city is to create an overall happiness rather than just one group. Guardians cannot have the same happiness that other groups would have but compares them to the building of a statue. He says that most beautiful color that exists is purple, so it would make sense to paint the eyes of a statue purple. However, since no human being has purple eyes, this would take away from the beauty of the statue as a whole. He says, “…you would not surely have us beautify the eyes to such a degree that they are no longer eyes; consider rather whether, by giving this and the other features their due proportion, we make the whole beautiful.” With the city, as with the statue, each part must be dealt with individually and appropriately for the good of the population. He moves into addressing topics regarding the lifestyle of guardians next. Socrates tells Adeimantus, who loves money, that there will be no wealth or poverty in this city because there will be no money. Adeimantus objects to this notion on the basis that a city without money cannot defend itself from invaders, but Socrates quickly reminds him that this city’s warriors will be the best and any neighboring city would be happy to come to their aid when they promise them all the spoils of war. He limits the size of the city “to increase so far as is consistent with unity” so control with the current system is not lost. Guardians should prioritize protecting their own education above all else. Socrates says that: If our citizens are well educated, and grow into sensible men, they will easily see their way through all these, as well as other matters which I omit; such, for example, as marriage, the possession of women and the procreation of children, which will all follow the general principle that friends have all things in common, as the proverb says. Just cities have no need for laws. As long as guardians are educated with planning and purpose, they will be in the position to decide any points of policy that arise because “The direction in which education starts a man will

determine his future life.” Matters of law can be left to the judgement of the properly educated rulers. Socrates declares that the just city is now complete claiming it has all the virtues necessary. In order to define these societal virtues, we only need to look into the city and identify them. The four virtues he looks for are wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice. Wisdom is easy to find as is lies with the guardians because of the knowledge they have of how the city should be run. If it were a democracy, meaning the guardians were not ruling, their virtue could not translate into the virtue of the city. Being in charge, however, their wisdom is the city’s. Courage can be found in the auxiliaries. Their courage counts as a virtue for the city because they fight for the city. Moderation and justice are spread across the city, contrary to wisdom and courage which are needed in two locations. Moderation is the agreement over who should rule, and justice is the complement to this: the principle of specialization and that all do the job to which they are best suited. With society virtues identified, Socrates moves into individual justice. He says that it involves the correct relationships among parts regarding power. Each part is an aspect of the soul or sources of desires. Socrates claims there are three parts of the soul for the case that individual justice parallels political justice. He says human desires can be cataloged into the rational part of the soul that lusts after truth, the spirited part that lusts after honor, and the appetitive part that lusts after everything else, such as food, drink, sex, and wealth. “…is not thirst the desire which the soul has of drink, and of drink only; not of drink qualified by anything else; for example, warm or cold, or much or little, or, in a word, drink of any particular sort: but if the thirst be accompanied by heat, then the desire is of cold drink; or, if accompanied by cold, then of warm drink; or, if the thirst be excessive, then the drink which is desired will be excessive; or, if not great, the quantity of drink will also be small: but thirst pure and simple will desire drink pure and simple, which is the natural satisfaction of thirst, as food is of hunger?” The three parts correspond to the three classes of the city. The appetite represents the producing class, the spirit is found among the auxiliaries, and reason is within the guardians. Just relationships between the three parts of the soul are similar to the relations in the classes of society. In a just person, the rational part of the soul rules the person like the guardian rules the society, the spirited part is

the helper to keep the appetitive in line like the auxiliaries do with the producers. The rational part “rules” the soul because the soul is meant to pursue the desires of that part. In a soul ruled by spirit, the entire soul attempts to achieve honor. In a soul ruled by appetite, the entire soul aims at fulfilling the appetites it lusts over. In a just soul, the goal of the soul is trying to fulfill whatever knowledge-loving desires reason produces. Socrates claims that justice is a result of the structure of the soul. He demonstrates that someone with a soul in the right arrangement with behave in accordance to the norms of justice. The notion of justice he arrived at is not counter to institutions but accounts and explains them. Socrates points out that a just person ruled by truth will not be in the grip of lust, greed, or desire for honor. Therefore, we can rest assured that he will never steal, betray friends or the city, commit adultery, disrespect his parents, violate an oath, neglect the gods, or commit any other unjust acts. Socrates asserts that justice amounts to the health of the soul. A just soul has its parts arranged appropriately, making it healthy....