THE REPUBLIC

-Plato

ByDavid Moses

The Republic is a Socratic dialogues, written by Plato around 380 BCE, concerning the definition of justice, the order and character of the just city-state and the just man. For this reason, ancient readers used the name On

Justice as an alternative title 

Book - 1

CONTEXTUAL INFORMATIONWhen Book I opens, Socrates is returning home

from a religious festival with his young friend Glaucon, one of Plato’s brothers.

Ironic situation: A torch-race on horseback in honor of the goddess;Why is it a novelty?What’s so dangerous?

GOT WAYLAID BY FORCE (OF THE STRONGER)• On the road, Socrates and his companions are

waylaid by Adeimantus, another brother of Plato, and the young nobleman Polemarchus, who convinces them to take a detour to his house.

• There they join Polemarchus’s aging father Cephalus, and others. Socrates and the elderly man begin a discussion on the merits of old age. This discussion quickly turns to the subject of justice.

• “And are you stronger than all these? for if not, you will have to remain where you are”. Playful but heavy-handed.

CONVERSATION & JOURNEY REASON BY ANALOGY

“… the more the pleasures of the body fade away, the greater to me is the pleasure and charm of conversation.”

“He replied: There is nothing which for my part I like better, Cephalus, than conversing with aged men; for I regard them as travelers who have gone a journey which I too may have to go, and of whom I ought to enquire, whether the way is smooth and easy, or rugged and difficult”.

PATRIMONY

1. An estate inherited from one's father or ancestors.

2. Any quality, characteristic, etc., that is inherited; heritage.

3. The aggregate of one's property. 4. The estate or endowment of a church,

religious house, etc.

REASON BY ANALOGY

… “the makers of fortunes have a second love of money as a creation of their own, resembling the affection of authors for their own poems, or of parents for their children, besides that natural love of it for the sake of use and profit which is common to them and all men”.

OLD AGE, WEALTH, REFLECTION SUCH TOPICS LEAD TO JUSTICE

“… when a man thinks himself to be near death, fears and cares enter into his mind which he never had before; the tales of a world below and the punishment which is exacted there of deeds done here were once a laughing matter to him, but now he is tormented with the thought that they may be true: either from the weakness of age, or because he is now drawing nearer to that other place, he has a clearer view of these things; suspicions and alarms crowd thickly upon him, and he begins to reflect and consider what wrongs he has done to others”.

WHAT IS JUSTICE? RESTORATIVE JUSTICE

Simonides (a minor Greek poet): Speak the truth and pay your debt;

Justice is to return what is due;Socrates’ challenge: Justice is more than just

return what is due.

SOCRATES SHIFTED A CONCEPTREASON VS.

FALLACY To return what you own

to someone; This falls into restorative

justice;

To return a weapon to a murderer is a different situation;

Socrates did not offer the scenario how we got this weapon from the murderer in the first place. After the murder, the murderer is no longer entitled to his weapon. The law will override his ownership of the weapon.

JUSTICE IS TO DO GOOD TO A FRIEND, EVIL TO AN ENEMY. • Says Polemarchus quoting Siꞌmonides, 556?–468? b.c.,   Greek poet: justice is the art that gives good to a friend, evil to an enemy. (challenge this definition)

• Traditionally, the Greek conception of justice came from poets like Hesiod, who in Works and Days presents justice as a certain set of acts that must be followed. The reason for being just, as presented by the traditional view, was consideration of reward and punishment: Zeus rewards those who are good and punishes those who are bad.

SHOULD WE HARM OUR ENEMIES?What If We Are On The Wrong Side Of History?Socrates reveals many inconsistencies in this view.

He points out that, because our judgment concerning friends and enemies is fallible, this credo will lead us to harm the good and help the bad. We are not always friends with the most virtuous individuals, nor are our enemies always the scum of society. Socrates points out that there is something incoherent in the idea of harming someone (even if our enemy) through justice.

IF WE ARE IGNORANT OF HUMAN NATURE, CAN WE TELL WHO ARE OUR FRIENDS AND WHO ARE OUR ENEMIES?“But see the consequence: -Many a man who is

ignorant of human nature has friends who are bad friends, and in that case he ought to do harm to them; and he has good enemies whom he ought to benefit”

Stiff application (paralysis in James Joyce’s words) of the rule that we should do good to our friends and do harm to our enemies could be consequential.

JUSTICE IN UTILITARIAN VIEW Socrates: You think that justice may be of use in peace as

well as in war? Is justice something that is useful? If it is, it is useful always

for something else. Then the definition is shifted to something external.

Justice has its criteria, independent of utilities. Autonomous vs. heteronomous Heteronomy: the condition of being under the domination

of an outside authority, either human or divine. Autonomy: freedom, independence, free of external

influences, out of your own free will, your own choice;

THRASYMACHUS’ DEFINITION OF JUSTICE Listen, then, he said; I proclaim that justice is nothing

else than the interest of the stronger. Analysis is to take things apart. For Thrasymachus, justice is tied to interest on the one

hand; and to the stronger on the other. Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun ... Mao

Zedong (1893 – 1976)

THRASYMACHUS’ FALLACY

Something that prevails must be right!

Thrasymachus cited so many pieces of empirical evidence to support that justice is the interest of the stronger.

Reflect on the limitations of Empiricism!

But all this is reversed in the case of the unjust man. I am speaking, as before, of injustice on a large scale in which the advantage of the unjust is more apparent; Thrasymachus says that the life of the unjust is more

advantageous than that of the just, Tied to benefits/interests Warranted by the large number; Everywhere… But it doesn’t necessarily mean it is right.

SOCRATES: JUSTICE IS HARMONY

And this is because injustice creates divisions and hatreds and fighting, and justice imparts harmony and friendship; is not that true, Thrasymachus?

And is not injustice equally fatal when existing in a single person; in the first place rendering him incapable of action because he is not at unity with himself, and in the second place making him an enemy to himself and the just? Is not that true, Thrasymachus?

REASON BY ANALOGY IT IS INTERDISCIPLINARY IN NATURE

Moving from one context to another context;

If something holds true in one context, but not true in another context, then it is not universal.

Reason by analogy is a way to test if a theory/claim holds water or not.

THE LAW OF CONTRADICTION

In classical logic, the law of non-contradiction (LNC) (or the principle of non-contradiction (PNC), or the principle of contradiction) is the second of the so-called three classic laws of thought. It states that contradictory statements cannot both at the same time be true, e.g. the two propositions "A is B" and "A is not B" are mutually exclusive.

JUSTICE & INTEREST

“… and as the government must be supposed to have power, the only reasonable conclusion is, that everywhere there is one principle of justice, which is the interest of the stronger” (11).

Here Thrasymachus associated justice with interest, and interest are translated into benefits.

IN PLATO’S EARLY DIALOGUES, APORIA USUALLY SPELLS THE END

1. Rhetoric . the expression of a simulated or real doubt, as about where to begin or what to do or say.

2. Logic, Philosophy . a difficulty encountered in establishing the theoretical truth of a proposition, created by the presence of evidence both for and against it.

Book – 2

Glaucon asks Socrates whether justice belongs1) in the class of good things we choose to have for themselves, like joy, or 2) those we value for their consequences though they themselves are hard, like physical training, or 3) the things we value for themselves and their consequences, like knowledge. Socrates says justice is in the third and best group. Glaucon says that most people would say justice is valued not for itself but for its consequences, for justice is difficult, and thus often avoided.

GLAUCON WANTS TO BE CONVINCED THAT JUSTICE IS A VIRTUE

First, it is generally agreed that to do injustice is naturally good, but to suffer it, bad. Consequently men make laws, and what the laws require, they call just. The origin of justice is a compromise between right and wrong.

GLAUCON REVIEWS THRASYMACHUS' ARGUMENTS ABOUT JUSTICE

People value justice because they lack the power to do injustice. Justice is practiced only by compulsion, and for the good of others, since injustice is more rewarding than justice. Human nature inclines us towards injustice, but the law forces us to behave justly.

LACK THE POWER TO DO INJUSTICE

Glaucon tells the story of Gyges` ring. A shepherd discovers a ring that makes its wearer invisible. The shepherd uses the ring to seduce the queen, murder the king and take the throne. If the power to do injustice were given to those who are usually too powerless to practice injustice, then, like the shepherd with the ring, they would be as unjust as others.

STORY OF GYGES' RING

Glaucon's brother Adeimantus says that it is merely the appearance of justice that is praised. An unjust person who has a reputation for justice leads a life of pleasure. The God perceive truth and punish the unjust, but God can be persuaded by prayers and sacrifices purchased by the unjust who have profited from their crimes.

GOD` APPEARANCE OF JUSTICE

Glaucon asks Socrates to describe what justice and injustice each do in themselves, how justice benefits those who have justice and how injustice harms them.

Socrates proposes first to examine the justice of the city, because it is easier to determine what is just for the group then for the individual. He begins by specifying what the ideal city, the kallipolis, needs.

SOCRATES IS PROPOSING TO ARGUE FROM THE GENERAL

A city needs people, food, shelter, and goods, with each person specializing in a particular occupation. The city needs merchants to trade with other cities, a marketplace, currency, local retailers, and people who perform manual labor for a wage. Luxury goods and services require a larger city, which leads to war to acquire more land. War requires an army, and soldiers require special skills.

IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF THE IDEAL CITY  

Socrates examines the requirements of soldiers or "guardians." A guardian needs to be gentle to his own people, but harsh to others. Therefore the guardian must be a lover of learning, a philosopher, educated from childhood in music and poetry, then given physical training.

IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION AND PHILOSOPHY.

Poets, like Hesiod and Homer, tell inappropriate stories about gods committing impious actions, stories which might influence the citizens to act badly. Therefore, the city must only use stories depicting good behaviour so as to influence the citizens of the city in positive ways.

SOCRATES, AND HENCE SOCRATES‘ PUPPET-MASTER PLATO