Plato

Republic

• Ebenstein & Ebenstein:

• -Plato’s assumption: “the right kind of government and politics can be the legitimate object of rigorous, rational analysis.” (E & E 20)

Plato• 427- 347 B.C.• Member of the Athenian aristocracy (descendent of Codrus,

the last king of Athens, and of Solon). After Plato’s father died, his mother married a friend of Pericles.– Plato’s uncle Carmides and his cousin Critias (disciple of Socrates)

take part in the gvt. Of the Thirty.– The democratic reaction to that gvt. Leads to Socrates’ death.

• Reaction: Plato resents practical politics (Seventh Letter) & democracy

• 387 B.C. Foundation of the Academy (closed in 526 A.D. by emperor Justinian).

• Dialogues (Socrates)• Other major works: Statesman, Laws, Apology

(http://classics.mit.edu/Browse/browse-Plato.html)

(Politeia) Republic (380 B.C.)

Politeia = Constitution

• Everything comprising the state as it is (law, organization, government, community, culture, economy)

• Constitution, as when we refer to a person’s bodily constitution.

• Isocrates: politeia is the "soul (psyche) of the polis" with power over it like that of the mind over the body

• Constitution? Athenian laws were written on stones in public places across the city (ex: the Agora)

Republic: Ten Books• Book I: Introduction. Thrasymachus (elenchus)• Book II: Glauco requests Socrates for an analysis of

justice and injustice• Books II-IV Definition of a just city and a just individual

character• Books V-VII Problems of organization of the ideal city, in

charge of the king-philosopher• Books VIII-IX Injustice (degenerate types of constitution:

timocracy/honor, oligarchy/money, democracy/the people, tyranny or despotism/individual caprice)

• Book X: Conclusions. Advantages of justice over injustice – need of rejecting poets as educators

Themes• Justice/Injustice • Thrasymachus vs. Socrates (Max Weber’s “ethic of ultimate

ends” vs. an “ethic of responsibility”) • The “city of pigs” vs. the just city (kallipolis)• The Just/Ideal city/individual character (=ideal constitution)

(monarchy/aristocracy)• % labor – specialization – classes – hierarchy

– Hierarchy of functions• In the city (producers, guardians, and rulers) • In the body (appetitive, spirited, and rational parts) (self-mastery)• Isomorphism of city and soul (fractals)

• Virtues: wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice.• Education/Censorship (Which stories should be told to

achieve virtuous individuals?)– Art

• Equality of genders• The king-philosopher• Ideas (allegory of the cave) – Idealism: what we call “reality”

is a mere (distorted) reflection of the real (Hegel).

Thrasymachus vs. Socrates

• “What I say is that ‘just’ or ‘right’ means nothing but what is to the interest of the stronger party.”

• “… in every case the laws are made by the ruling party in its own interest; a democracy makes democratic laws, a despot autocratic ones, and so on.”

• “…injustice, on a grand enough scale, is superior to justice…”

• “…injustice is not more profitable than justice.”

• “justice… quality that may exist in a whole community as well as in an individual…”

• “…when each order… keeps to its own proper business in the commonwealth and does its own work, that is justice and what makes a just society.”

Kallipolis’ Political Order

Is based upon an ontological orderDisorder = (political and personal) disease

Discuss:

Plato’s political theory supposes the Plato’s political theory supposes the annihilation of politics (Kallipolis)annihilation of politics (Kallipolis)

Soul & city

• “Virtue seems, then, to be a kind of health, fine condition, and well-being of the soul, while vice is disease, shameful condition, and weakness.” (444 e)

• “It seems likely that there are as many types of soul as there are specific types of political constitution… Five forms of constitution and five of souls.”(445 e)

DemocracyThe Democratic City

• “Liberty and free speech are rife everywhere; anyone is allowed to do what he likes.(…)…every man will arrange his own manner of life to suit his pleasure. The result will be a greater variety of individuals than under any other constitution. …variegated pattern of all sorts of characters.(…) A democracy is so free that it contains a sample of every kind… …emporium of constitutions…”

The Democratic Soul

• “… now he will set all his pleasures on a footing of equality denying to none its equal rights and maintenance, and allowing each in turn, as it presents itself, to succeed, as if by the chance of the lot, to the government of his soul until it is satisfied… His life is subject to no order or restraint, and he has no wish to change an existence which he calls pleasant, free, and happy.”

Are democracy and self-mastery incompatible?