Plato: Bringing Justice to Light Plato 429-347 BCE Republic, ca 370-60 BCE
First impressions
And self-promoting megalomaniac?
What sort of text is this? it s not a novel (though it has characters and dialogue) it s a work of Platonic philosophy in his characteristic form of dialogue where several characters argue a topic by asking questions of each other influenced strongly by Socrates & his method: elenchus or test/refutation but Plato anxious to transcend Socratic philosophy through his own dialectics (e.g. shift in emphasis from early part of Republic to its remainder) note: dialogue is not the same as dialectic
The Socratic Problem who was the real Socrates? how did he influence Plato? the original soul man: psyche
Politics and the soul Socratic & Platonic conceptions of the soul have deep political implications e.g. the best life (how we should live) will need to take account of what we actually are but for Plato we are trying to see in the dark Republic is an attempt to light the way to the best possible city (kallipolis)
Plato goes Meta Pre-Socratic philosophy looks only at the physical e.g. seeing and knowing is a huge challenge in Oedipus the King, but at least there is only one world play raises important questions around what a good ruler and good state looks like but Plato takes story to a whole new dimension
Polis (poleis): the political backstory in Oedipus the King Oedipus is warned by the Priest: how much better to rule a city of men than be king over empty earth. A city is nothing, a ship is nothing where no men live together, where no men work together (lines 76-9, p. 25) what is the background assumption here? what would Plato make of this statement? something natural about the state; polis is more than a spatial category
Aristotle s zoon politikon Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so selfsufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god (Politics)
Thebes Corinth Athens Thrasymachus Sparta
Many constitutions, but one polis
What s the best sort of polis? Aristotle (Plato s student) sets out to address this via comparative analysis (Politics) for Plato all existing constitutions are bad (though some better than others) so the best possible city can only arise from outside existing politics one is worse than than all others wants to provide a conception of justice that does not depend on conventions or narrow self-interest
Seeing through the darkness Plato defines justice as proper arrangements of the parts of the soul both individual (psyche) and city (constitution) have a soul
moderation justice The Platonic virtues wisdom courage demos soul city
How is this not simply a justification for elite rule? Plato is a philosopher who says philosophers should rule! (474 d, p. 166) why should we accept this? because it s TRUE
Perfection was in the air Athens in golden age preferred idealized creations of human intelligence to the imperfect examples of nature e.g. sculptor Polyclitus changed body s natural proportions in favour of modular proportion Protagoras: mitmoat
The meta-physics for Plato reality is a matter of degrees the world we see is not fully real he can see another world
Plato s extramission theory: visual perception is accomplished by rays of light emitted by the eyes 19
Plato s optics obviously wrong but play a major role in illustrating his position on reality more on this next week 20
What must Plato try to prove? that justice has it s own rewards it must be more than window dressing for ill-gotten wealth and power clearest in a strange story he tells early in the dialogue
Ring of Gyges: (2.359a 2.360d, p. 38)
Here as in most places the democratic state and soul is his target Gyges is a beast Thrasymachus is a beast (338 b, p, 14) rejection of sophistry the demos is a many-headed monster & multiform beast (493 b, p. 186; 588 e, p. 293)
Gyges today
Plato and democracy seen by many as our enemy I wish to treat him with as little reverence as if he were a contemporary advocate of totalitarianism, Bertrand Russell The Open Society and Its Enemies: The Spell of Plato, 1971, Karl Popper
So: the choice I have made May seem strange to you But who asked you, anyway? It's my life to wreck My own way! Alma Matters, Maladjusted, 1997 26
But Plato doesn t understand individuals & their values in our way liberty = licence no intrinsic value to human life (we all have a function in a bigger entity) happiness is a collective idea (420 c, p. 103) equality is a collective idea liberty must have value (free to do something)
Final thoughts Is this really a practical plan for an ideal state? theory versus practice, 472 d, p. 165 and 473 a-b, p. 166