Plato s Republic Revision Notes Prelude Cephalus: In old age, most desires have left the body, making

the old more agreeab le to rational discussion Old age is easier to bear if one s character is fulfilled ? Eudemonia Moderate lifestyle is best a bad man would be miserable if rich or poor, but a rich (good?) man might only be miserable if poor Money helps people to stay good and worry less Justice is returning what is borrowed, or giving everyone their due Polemarchus: Justice is helping friends and harming enemies o View expressed by the poet Simonides Socrates: Justice doesn t equal giving everyone their due ? example of mad axe man Justice isn t the skill of helping friends and harming enemies as this wou ld be useful only in times of war, yet justice is coveted in peacetime also o This presumes that justice is a skill, or techne C. D. C. Reeve Cephalus and Polemarchus represent the conventional. Cephalus is too old for philosophy to help, Polemarchus is too young, and thus they play min or roles in the text Book 1, 336b to 367e (Thrasymachus, Glaucon & Adeimantus arguments against Justice) Thrasymachus vs. Socrates Thrasymachus: Justice is in the interest of the stronger party, i.e. everyone has to o bey the wishes of the strongest. Justice is the rules/will imposed by the stron gest (the ruler) and this will benefit themselves, not the weaker (the public) Socrates: Rulers are fallible, they can make mistaken judgements that go against t heir own interests, BUT it would still be just for the weaker to follow their ru le, therefore working against the interest of the strongest. Cleitophon: Attempt to clarify Thrasymachus argument justice is following what the st rongest believes to be in his interest, regardless of whether it actually is or not Thrasymachus: No Ruling is a techne, a skill. Those with the techne are infallible. In th e sense that while ruling, a ruler is infallible and if they do make a mistake t hey do not currently possess the techne. A doctor is not called a doctor because he makes mistakes. Criticism does an infallible ruler exist? Socrates: Medicine, as a techne, works to better the human body. If ruling is a si milar skill it thus works in the interest of the public, i.e. the people that ar e being ruled as opposed to those that rule. A doctor does not work to benefit h imself. Therefore justice is not acting in the interest of the stronger Thrasymachus: Some technes involve working to benefit oneself, e.g. shepherdry, caring for sheep to benefit yourself/ your master. Therefore justice is in the interest of the stronger Injustice pays more, as it is benefitting yourself, not the stronger/oth ers Tyranny example theft, exploitation etc. is unjust for an individual yet if a tyrant acts as such they are praised, as they are stronger. Socrates:

Shepherds don t equal businessmen. The techne of shepherdry involves worki ng in the interest of the sheep. Earning wages, or benefitting oneself, is a con nected but distinct techne. Criticism but if wage earning was a similar techne then presumably it wo uld be working in the interests of who it s serving, i.e. the wage. This is silly. Those with the techne of ruling don t rule in order to gain wages/benefit themselves, they are altruistic. If they can t be coerced into ruling with wages t hen they have to be threatened with punishment. Ruling doesn t benefit oneself and so those who would be good at ruling are unlikely to want to rule, though they would see the benefit for the community. Justice is in the interest of the weaker and is better than injustice Thrasymachus: Injustice is a virtue as it leads to a better life, eudemonia, if undete cted An unjust man is wise and sensible as he realises the best way of life i s gained through injustice Socrates: An unjust man will try and outdo both the just and the unjust, in order to benefit themselves, while a just man would simple outdo the unjust through ac ting justly Musicians, who are skilled, outdo the unskilled, yet do not compete with other skilled musicians The skilled therefore compete with their unlike not their like, while th e unskilled compete with everyone Justice is a skill, those with justice are skilled and intelligent and t herefore justice is a virtue. Virtues contribute towards eudemonia Criticism translated badly, compete doesn t really convey the argument. Unju stified claim that justice = eudemonia Thrasymachus: In justice is a source of strength, thus implying that it is a virtue. Socrates: Groups of people working together need justice to cooperate as the unjus t wouldn t have trust and would constantly be wronging each other Group = Individual For an individual to be unjust is to be internally divided, thus not str ong as they wouldn t be bale to act efficiently Criticism Does group really = individual? Under Socrates analogy, a grou p could still be internally just but externally unjust. An individual could ther efore act unjustly, while being internally just undermines his whole argument Justice is intelligence and contributes to eudemonia while injustice lea ds to hatred and inefficiency Function argument o All things have functions, which if completed lead to eudemonia o Functions are fulfilled through excellences, arte, which contribute towar ds the techne, or skills, involved with fulfilling the function. Artes ? techne ? function fulfilled ? eudemonia o Function of the mind is to live effectively, this skill is used in conju nction with the excellence of justice, as it has been said above that living jus tly is a skill. To be just you need to have the excellence of justice. o Fulfilling function ? happiness o Justice pays more than injustice Rachel Barney s summary of this section: The typical view of justice has come from Hesiod, and Thrasymachus is ar guing against the value of this account of justice Summary of the function argument o The virtue/excellence of anything is what enables it to perform its func tion well o The function of the human soul is paying attention, controlling, delibera ting and life o Justice is the virtue of the human soul (unjustified?)

o Therefore justice enables the soul to fulfil its function and live well o Whoever lives well is happy o Therefore the just man is happy and the unjust miserable Glaucon and Adeimantus Challenge Glaucon argues that there are 3 types of good o Pleasurable enjoyments good we desire for itself (utilitarian perspectiv e?) o Wisdom and health good we desire for itself and for its consequences o Exercise and wage earning good we desire for its consequences Socrates argues that justice is the 2nd type, desired for itself and its consequences Glaucon argues that justice is the 3rd kind, desired for its consequence s o Social contract theory! o It is better for oneself to act unjustly, but unjust acts against onesel f are bad. Justice is the mutual argument to not act unjustly (thought it would benefit ourselves) in order to protect ourselves from unjust actions against us o It is in human nature to desire to do wrong and dislike suffering, justi ce is the agreement to not do wrong in order to prevent suffering o Hobbesian contract theory? Utilitarian principles? o Laws prevent people from acting unjustly, as they have been created to p revent suffering. Laws enforce justice. (Ring of Gyges example) o Justice has no material gains without the reputation of being just. Ther efore the best situation is to be unjust but have a reputation of justice Adeimantus o The appearance of justice gives a good reputation and good reputation ha s many material benefits o Justice is encourages by popular opinion and leaders ? Encouraged for its consequences (the reputation?) o The gods are fickle and can be swayed by sacrifice and praise, which can be done by the unjust ? Therefore the unjust can still gain the benefits of justice o People are unjust as justice is only praised for its reputation and cons equences, which can be gained through injustice o As justice is praised for its reputation and consequences, not for itsel f (as it is difficult to obtain) many people are not just. If it was praised for itself, through education?, then perhaps people would be just. Adeimantus and Glaucon s arguments Mirror later topics of the text o Criticisms of the messages in poetry o Appearance is better than reality o If justice is taught from a young age it will be followed Adeimantus challenged Socrates to show that justice is both a means and an end and also the non-material benefits of justice, as these can also be gained th rough injustice Criticism of Book One: Tenuous/irrelevant analogies. Examples conclusion Overview of the non-examined bit Part II State = Individual Big = Little As a much larger being it is easier to see justice in a city than in an individual By examining a just city we can easily see the separate aspects within j ustice and then correspond it to the individual Criticism Is this analogy correct? Robin Waterfield Plato s city is purely hypothetical, it s nothing more than an analogy. The Republic is not a work of political philosophy

City 1 V. basic settlement with no luxuries, everyone has a job to do th at corresponds to their different natures o City of pigs Glaucon, humans require more City 2 Kallipolis perfect city o Needs more resources, therefore needs an army to protect/acquire resourc es o Workers ? Provide goods o Guardians ? Rule and protect city ? Within their nature to protect those known to them, like guard dogs ? Philosophical nature, loves knowledge Part III Importance of the guardians education o Unsuitability of most literature ? Show examples of injustice etc. ? Sets a bad example so should be censored for the guardians, as they need to have a specific personality o Guardians nature ? Respect authority ? Courageous ? Resistant to grief ? Resistant to laughter ? Respect truth, BUT recognise when lying is necessary ? Physically fit Part IV Guardians subdivide into: o Auxiliaries - protect city o Rulers with complete power, the most just of all of the guardians Life of the guardians o Communal property o Eat as a group o Live communally o Limited wealth ? Not a wage paying job o All of this prevents corruption, and jealousy of the workers, while crea ting a sense of loyalty to the state among the guardians ? Would guardians resent the workers? o Meritocracy rule by the best o Adeimantus will the guardians be happy? ? Happiness of the guardians themselves is irrelevant, happiness of the ci ty as a whole is strived towards Utility principle? o No laws about employment, tax, juries, regulation of businesses ? Irrelevant as rulers will know best Myth of metals the noble lie o To convince people to accept their position in life ? Iron/bronze = workers ? Silver = auxiliaries ? Gold = rulers o Will the rulers know of, and accept the lie? Their nature is one that re jects falsity Part V The city has several virtues that correspond to each section of society o Wisdom = rulers o Courage = auxiliaries o Temperance = workers o All three = JUSTICE Justice is gained in a society where everyone accepts and works in accor dance to their place in life

Tension between classes? Jealousy wouldn t occur between classes due to indoctrination in education and noble lies Lack of progress? o Irrelevant as society would be perfect What if human nature doesn t correspond? If certain people doesn t have philo sophical natures while the rest are fairly irrational Tripartite soul theory o Society = soul o Soul has 3 parts ? Wisdom = rulers = REASON ? Courage = auxiliaries = SPIRIT ? Temperance = workers = APPETITE/DESIRE o When all three are in accordance to each other, i.e. reason is in contro l, there is justice o Creates problems for the state = indivdual analogy ? State as merely hypothetical? ? Differing members of society, when wisdom/rulers in control = justice, s o many people can t be wise, therefore be just? Maybe people have differing levels of internal wisdom etc. Part VI Women are, in general, weaker than men and so usually aren t good enough t o become guardians, but if they are qualified then they could become guardians o Disproportionate male:female ratio ? Creates issues for Plato s breeding program Communal families for guardians o Children brought up in crches, unaware of their parents ? Loyalty to state Mating festival o Rulers pick partners to ensure the best children are produced o Incest prevented as all children of a certain generation call older gene ration mother father etc. Incest between siblings, not a problem! Working class gets private families and property! Ideological responses to Plato Liberalism Strict class structure restricts how people are able to choose how to live - Censorship restricts people from exercising their autonomy Marxism - Communal property removes greed and encourages teamwork and selflessness - Rulers restrict what workers can do, workers have a lack of influence which fo sters a sense of alienation - Class system leads to conflict and eventual overthrow Conservatism - Provides a strong moral code for a more negative take on human nature, i.e. th at people are irrational enough to need strong moral guidance -Removes the traditional and extremely important family structure, which would h arm society Anarchism - State = bad, especially such an autocratic authoritarian one - (anarcho-communist) Communal living of the guardians is preferable to the work ers system - Power would corrupt the rulers Neo-Liberal - The ruling class would be unmotivated with no financial/material incentives