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    II-NATURAL LAW Plato

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    Effy Santos
    Plato was a Greek philosopher born in 429 BC who established the Academy in Athens, one of the earliest known institutions of higher learning in the Western world. In The Republic, Plato envisages an ideal society ruled by philosopher-kings. He takes a dim view of democracy, arguing that rule should be left to those with specialized knowledge and skills rather than the uneducated masses. The central book of The Republic uses an allegory of the cave to illustrate Plato's view that true knowledge comes from ascending from the shadowy world of appearances to the real world of ideas and rational thought.

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    II-NATURAL LAW Plato

    Uploaded by

    Effy Santos
    36 views41 pages
    Plato was a Greek philosopher born in 429 BC who established the Academy in Athens, one of the earliest known institutions of higher learning in the Western world. In The Republic, Plato envisages an ideal society ruled by philosopher-kings. He takes a dim view of democracy, arguing that rule should be left to those with specialized knowledge and skills rather than the uneducated masses. The central book of The Republic uses an allegory of the cave to illustrate Plato's view that true knowledge comes from ascending from the shadowy world of appearances to the real world of ideas and rational thought.

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    Plato was a Greek philosopher born in 429 BC who established the Academy in Athens, one of the earliest known institutions of higher learning in the Western world. In The Republic, Plato envisages an ideal society ruled by philosopher-kings. He takes a dim view of democracy, arguing that rule should be left to those with specialized knowledge and skills rather than the uneducated masses. The central book of The Republic uses an allegory of the cave to illustrate Plato's view that true knowledge comes from ascending from the shadowy world of appearances to the real world of ideas and rational thought.

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    36 views41 pages

    II-NATURAL LAW Plato

    Uploaded by

    Effy Santos
    Plato was a Greek philosopher born in 429 BC who established the Academy in Athens, one of the earliest known institutions of higher learning in the Western world. In The Republic, Plato envisages an ideal society ruled by philosopher-kings. He takes a dim view of democracy, arguing that rule should be left to those with specialized knowledge and skills rather than the uneducated masses. The central book of The Republic uses an allegory of the cave to illustrate Plato's view that true knowledge comes from ascending from the shadowy world of appearances to the real world of ideas and rational thought.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 41

    Plato and the Republic

    Plato was born into a wealthy Athenian


    family around 429 BC.
    So, he grew up during the
    Peloponnesian War (431 – 404 BC).
    Around the age of 20, Plato joined
    the circle of Socrates.
    Socrates did not conduct his
    philosophical inquiries through
    writing...
    ... but through engaging in
    dialogues with prominent
    Athenians, often in public
    places.
    We can imagine Plato watching
    on and sometimes participating
    in these conversations.
    In 404, when Athens was finally
    forced to surrender, a Spartan
    sponsored tyranny, known as
    the Rule of Thirty, was installed
    in Athens.
    The tyranny was extremely
    vicious and lasted less than a
    year.
    Plato’s uncle and cousin were
    key players in the Rule of Thirty.
    It may have been his family’s
    involvement in this unhappy
    period that led Plato to finally
    shun politics and pursue the
    philosophical life.
    In 399, Socrates was tried and
    sentenced to death (by drinking
    hemlock) for impiety and for
    corrupting the youth.
    After this, Plato spent around a decade
    travelling the Mediterranean.
    Around 388 BC, Plato returned to
    Athens and established a school
    called the Academy.
    Plato wrote 20 books before his
    death in 347.
    Almost all his books take the
    form of dialogues led by
    Socrates (who, remember, did
    not write anything himself).
    To what extent Plato is faithfully
    representing Socrates...
    ... and to what extent he is using
    Socrates as a character through
    which he advances his own
    views,
    ... is difficult to discern and a
    matter of debate.

    It is believed to vary from book


    to book and over periods of
    Plato’s writing.
    Plato’s Republic was written
    about 375 BC.
    The title is a poor Latin
    translation (res publica > things
    + public = public affairs) of the
    Greek word politaea which
    meant ‘ideal state’ (Phelan:
    2005, 148).
    The Cave
    The Allegory

    •The cave and the blurred world of the


    shadows = ignorance

    •The bright world of light = knowledge


    In the Republic, Plato envisages
    a utopia or perfect society.

    The central element of this


    society is that it is ruled by
    philosophers.
    He takes a dim view of
    democracy in which the unwise
    and untutored are accorded as
    much power as those who are
    steeped in knowledge and who
    deliberate in a rational fashion.
    Plato advances numerous
    arguments for his ideal state but
    one is important to bear in
    mind.
    Plato thinks ruling is a
    specialised skill no less than,
    say, making shoes or building a
    ship.
    Therefore, he thinks it no more
    sensible to have unskilled non-
    specialists ruling than making
    ships or shoes.

    The results in all cases will be


    similarly shoddy.
    Book IV:
    Virtues of the Good City
    Knowledge and judgment Chief virtue of Rulers
    Wisdom regarding how the city is best (& Guardians)
    served.

    Spirit (honor) tempered with Chief virtue of


    Courage reason, a type of perseverance Guardians
    in the face of fear. (Auxillaries or Soldiers)
    A type of harmony or order A well ordered society.
    Moderation between parts; an agreement
    (Sophrosune) about who does what (e.g.,
    rulers rule)
    Doing one’s work/role well, and An effect of proper
    Justice not doing someone else’s functioning
    work/role.
    Book IV
    Tripartite Soul
    • Just as in the city so too in the soul (434d)

    • Three Parts:
    – Rational part: Reason, judgment, etc.
    – Spirited part: Anger, ambition, courage, etc.
    – Appetitive part: Desire for food, sex,
    comfort, etc.
    Book IV
    Virtues of the Soul
    City Virtue Soul
    Rulers Wisdom Rational

    Soldiers Courage Spirited

    Producers &
    Appetitive
    Craftsmen

    Justice?
    Book IV
    Justice in the Soul
    Answer to 1st Challenge: What is justice, if not merely the
    interest of the powerful?

    By Analogy…
    Just as justice in the city is each part performing its natural
    role, we should expect the soul to be just in the same way
    (434d ff.)

    Justice in the soul is each part doing its function well.


    Rational part rules, spirited part motivates good action,
    and the appetitive is to be ruled by the rational and
    spirited parts. Injustice in the soul amounts to civil war or
    revolution.
    Book VIII
    Different types of character in a city/soul and the
    level of injustice in each:

    Best Aristocracy
    Timocracy
    Oligarchy
    Democracy
    Worst Tyranny
    It is somewhat surprising that
    Athens’ most famous thinker,
    Plato, is so negative about
    Athens’ most famous invention,
    democracy.
    Education
    • It is the function of education to lead people out of the cave
    into the world of light

    • Education is not simply a matter of putting knowledge into a


    person’s soul that does not possess it, any more than vision
    is putting sight into blind eyes. Knowledge, like vision,
    requires an organ capable of receiving it

    • It is necessary for the entire soul to turn away from the


    deceptive world of change and appetite that causes
    blindness of the soul
    Education (cont.)
    • Education is a matter of conversion, a complete turning
    around from the world of appearance to the world of reality

    • “The conversion of the soul [is] not to put the power of sight
    in the soul’s eye, which already has it, but to insure that,
    instead of looking in the wrong direction, it is turned the way
    it ought to be”

    • However, even the “noblest natures” do not always want to


    look that way, and so Plato says that the rulers must “bring
    compulsion to bear” upon them to ascend upward from
    darkness to light
    [38]

    Plato’s Republic - The State


    What is the subject? ‘Justice in the state’ means,
    what?
    • (1) What the State ought to be like
    • (2) What its rulers ought to do and be like
    • (3) What its people ought to do, qua citizens
    • (4) What its people ought to do about the laws
    • (5) What its people ought to do about the State’s
    institutions
    • (6) What its people ought to do to each other
    Plato’s view is especially about (1) - (3)
    [39]

    Plato’s Republic - The Company


    What is the subject? ‘Justice in the company’
    means, what?
    • (1) What the Company ought to be like
    • (2) What its leaders ought to do and be like
    • (3) What its employers ought to do, qua
    employees, employees qua employees
    • (4) What its employers and employees ought to
    do about the rules, regulations and policies
    • (5) What its people ought to do to each other
    The goal of this lesson is to
    understand Plato’s critique of
    democracy in theory. In
    subsequent lessons, we will look
    at some historical examples that
    might explain Plato’s views.
    Ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus.

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