Plato’s Republic: part II

 6. Communism in the Republic (416a-417b & 457d-461) • Limited to 2 classes • • No private property; live in barracks No private families • • Meals in common Temporary marriages arranged by a fixed lottery Plato - The Republic - slide 1

Plato’s Republic

 • • A eugenics program Justification for this scheme • Principal justification: The common good • Children taken from parents Secondary justifications: – – Population control Implementing the eugenics program Plato - The Republic - slide 2

Plato’s Republic

 Adeimantes’ objecton (419a-420a): Won’t the rulers & military be unhappy living this ascetic lifestyle?

• Socrates’ reply – Avoid squabbles over property (464d-e) – Avoid “difficulties and hardships” of raising a family (465c) Plato - The Republic - slide 3

Plato’s Republic

– – – Avoid debts Can spend their leisure on gymnastics, hunting, and horse riding contests (412b) Rewards of military heroism Plato - The Republic - slide 4

Plato’s Republic

 7. The philosopher-kings  Glaucon’s query: Can this state really exist? (471c)  Socrates’ answers • First answer: model & modeled (472c-e); theory & practice (473a b). Plato - The Republic - slide 5

Plato’s Republic

 • Second answer (a very famous passage): “Unless either philosophers become kings . . . “ (473c-e) – Philosopher-kings But who is the philosopher? • lover of wisdom (475b) • searcher for the truth • one who has knowledge of the Forms or Ideas (476c, 479a, 480a) Plato - The Republic - slide 6

Plato’s Republic

 • are few in number (496a-c) Note that there is no constitution in the Republic. Plato trusts the wise ruler, the philosopher-king. • Cf. the Laws Plato - The Republic - slide 7

Plato’s Republic

 8. The theory of Ideas or Forms • The position that there is another realm beyond the physical which is made up of permanent, unchanging, universal absolutes, which are independent of both the physical world and the human mind. Plato - The Republic - slide 8

Plato’s Republic

• • • Ideas are perfect models or exemplars of things and actions in the physical world.

Things and actions in the physical world are second-best, imperfect copies.

The souls of human belong to the realm of Ideas.

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Plato’s Republic

 Connection of the theory of Ideas to Plato’s dualistic position on human nature • The souls of human belong to the realm of Ideas.

• In this life, human souls are alienated, distracted, unable to be fulfilled.

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Plato’s Republic

• The Phaedo: Philosophy is the practice of dying! (Phaedo 63e-68b) – Explanation of this strange saying.

 Connection to Plato’s strong soul-body dualism and to his dualistic metaphysics Plato - The Republic - slide 11

Plato’s Republic

dualistic metaphysics World of Ideas Physical world dualistic human nature soul - akin to the Ideas body Plato - The Republic - slide 12

Plato’s Republic

 9. The allegory of the cave (beginning of Bk VII, 514-519)  Some suggested levels of the allegory • metaphysical • epistemological  • political Why philosopher-kings rule for the common good & not out of self interest?

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Plato’s Republic

 10. The five forms of government • Presented as stages in the decline of the perfect state • Why does Plato describe the possible decline of his perfect state?

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Plato’s Republic

• • The five forms (1) Aristocracy (547c) - Plato’s preferred form – An aristocracy of philosopher kings – How might this decline?

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Plato’s Republic

• (2) Timocracy (545b, 547) – Rule by the military – Its possible decline   class divisions ruling class accumulates private property Plato - The Republic - slide 16

Plato’s Republic

• (3) Oligarchy (550c) – Rule by the rich – How might it decline?

 “Spendthrifts” stir up the masses against the rich Plato - The Republic - slide 17

Plato’s Republic

• (4) Democracy – The city resounds with “freedom and freedom of speech” (557b).

– “Each person can arrange his own life within the city in whatever way pleases him” (557b).

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Plato’s Republic

– “You’d expect it [democracy] to be an enjoyable kind of regime- anarchic, colourful, and granting equality of a sort to equals and unequals alike.” [Cf. Grube trans.: “It looks as though it’s [democracy] an enjoyable, lax, and variegated kind of political system, which treats everyone as equal, whether or not they are” (558c).

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Plato’s Republic

• – – A thoroughly unjust society; the antithesis of justice The decline of democracy (5) Tyranny (562a) – Rule by persons who rule for power and wealth Plato - The Republic - slide 20

Plato’s Republic

 11. Art in the Republic (595a-607d)  The imitative arts are to be banished from the Republic  Aside on the mimetic theory & art in ancient Greece Plato - The Republic - slide 21

Plato’s Republic

• Plato’s reasons for banning the imitative arts – (1) Imitative works of art are three-times removed from the real (597e) [Waterfield translation: “two generations away from reality.”]  Distracts from pursuit of the truth Plato - The Republic - slide 22

Plato’s

Republic

– – (2) The imitative arts appeal to the passions (606d)  Thereby they distort the proper ordering of the parts of the soul-- reason ought to be in control Plato’s charming challenge: Give me an argument to restore the imitative arts to the Republic (607c-d) Plato - The Republic - slide 23