Before I started reading Plato's the Republic, I was loathe to admit that reading those philosophy books were gonna really change how I view myself. It was totally a waste of time to read these vague and complicated books. As I went on reading the republic, I saw many similar things that still existed in our society. In the book, Plato prescribes severe dictates concerning the cultural life of the city. He rules out all poverty, with the exception of hymns to the gods and eulogies for the famous, and places restraints on painting and architecture. Does this look like "Cultural Revolution" that happened in China in late 60s in twentieth century? There are differences though, which is how the leaders see the results of the destruction of human civilization. Plato expresses regret at these aesthetic sacrifices, he feels they must be made for the sake of education, which transforms the unhealthy luxurious city into a pure and just city. However, our great leader didn't see any ruinous effects on our society until he reached the end of his life.…
unite the citizens in harmony…” (The Republic of Plato, pg. 234). Each person reaches their own happiness depending on their choices; happiness is the ultimate ‘good’ and good is individual justice in behaving good. The paradox of…
At this point returning debts owed and helping friends while harming enemies are all definitions of justice that Socrates show to be inadequate and lack of complexity. In the dialogue Plato then…
Here lies the direct comparison Socrates makes between the happiness of those who lead just and unjust lives. Three proofs are given according to the just life. Butler interprets these proofs as arguments made by Socrates that the happiest life simply is the most pleasant life to live; the just life is more content than the unjust life. Pleasure is used as the dominant response in measuring the just and unjust life. The unjust life is consumed with dissatisfaction and pain whilst the just life is one filled with virtue, elegance, and beauty. Correspondingly, what makes life happiest is that it most pleasant and pleasurable. Butler concludes that Plato issued the Republic with the intention of proving that justice is better than injustice because justice produces the happiest most pleasure-filled…
Justice played a very important role in Plato’s philosophy. After chastising different theories of justice, he came up with his own theory, he said justice was a human virtue; it is what makes a person good. Individually, justice can make a person good and self-consistent, but socially it could bring harmony to society. Plato’s idea of justice was all about virtue and goodness. Plato also believed that justice was an essential part of an ideal society. Because it brought more light and could cure bad things.…
The discussion between Socrates and Euthyphro is one of the most famous Socratic discussions because of the meaning set behind the actions. This discussion is focused on what is the piety or the holiness asked by Socrates to Euthyphro. Socrates appoints Euthyphro to help him understand what piety is as he admits he does not know, in order to help with his case against him. They argue about Euthyphro’s answer that piety is what the Gods love and impiety is the opposite. Socrates then questions which is dear because they love or they love because it is dear. Socrates challenges to comprehend an understanding of this indefinable concept and uses logic to understand what holiness is as provided by Euthyphro who is acting religious. This paper will show how the concept of holiness emerges from Euthyphro’s three definitions of piety. In addition this paper will suggest why Socrates goal for this discussion.…
1 Towards the beginning of this passage, Socrates gets Laches to agree to a new definition of courage. What is it? (5 marks)…
Plato’s Republic discusses the philosophical notion regarding the creation of “the perfect utopian society” without injustices, domination and oppression. In the book, Plato states that the perfect utopian society is just, filled with people who do things they are fitted to do who also don’t do the things they believe they’re not fitted to do. Plato believes that what makes a man just, in accordance with the narration of Cephalus, is a combination of the qualities of having a cultured orderly personality and also wealth accumulated from either effort or inheritance and giving each person their respective dues. The statement “Plato’s perfect society cannot exist unless human beings are imperfect” is arguably accurate as human imperfections…
In doing so, Plato touches upon many important ideas about education, ethics, politics, and morality in this text. Scholars have pointed out that the main argument of the Republic is partly a response to the political unrest and instability Plato witnessed in contemporary Athenian society. Following the end of the Peloponnesian War, Athens became a democracy of sorts, led mostly by laymen, who, in Plato's view, tended to implement policies based more on popular demand rather than necessity or principle. Thus, Plato developed a perspective that viewed all contemporary forms of government as corrupt, theorizing that the only hope for finding true justice both for society and the individual lies in philosophy, and that “mankind will have no respite from trouble until either real philosophers gain political power, or politicians become by some miracle true philosophers.” This is the central theme of the Republic. In the context of this premise, Plato touches upon several major issues, focusing the most significant discussions on the nature and definition of ethics, education, and the organization of society and politics, as well as religion and philosophy. In contrast to the Sophists, who advocated the primacy of rhetoric over moral training, Plato proposes the creation of an educational system that focuses on the molding of character, with the ultimate goal of the educator being not just imparting knowledge, but also the ability “to turn the mind's eye to the light so that it can see for itself.” According to Plato, one of the main problems of his society was the inability to distinguish true reality from reflections or images of reality. Plato employs his famous allegory of the cave to illustrate how mankind learns and can be mislead by the manner in which he learns. Plato's preferred educational system strictly controls the upbringing of the ruling class in order to help…
According to Plato, individual justice mirrors political justice. He discusses the tri-partite soul in his Republic. The tri-partite soul consists of three parts: the rational, the spirited and the appetitive. The rational part of the soul searches after the truth. The spirited part desires honor and is responsible for our feelings of anger and indignation. The appetitive part is lust, especially for money. Justice in the individual is analogous to justice in the society. An individual is just when the three parts of his soul are fulfilling their intended roles. The rational part rules the soul, the spirited part supports the rule of the rational…
Plato’s Allegory of the cave is a written dialogue between his brother, Glaucon and his mentor, Socrates. Socrates asked Glaucon to imagine a cave inhabited with prisoners since childhood, with legs and hands chained fixedly so that all they could see was the wall. They came to believe that the shadows of the cave were real. Socrates then explained that once the prisoners were freed from the cave, the lights from the outside world would first pain their eyes, and hurt them. Some might even hide back into the cave to avoid it. But those who have opened their eyes starts to widen, sees everything and realizes that the sun is the source of all the light. They recognizes that what they see now is truth, and the shadows that they once thought was true was an illusion.…
In Plato's Republic, “Socrates” explains art as nothing more than imitation, as evidenced in the bed example, which begins on page 30 and establishes the perfect or heavenly bed as the original, a carpenter's rendering of a bed is an imitation, and a painting of that bed as an imitation of an imitation. “Socrates” goes on to say that if one has the power of creating an actual bed, there would be no reason for one to imitate the bed in art. Therefore, art, as a form of imitation, is inferior, and later on in the piece, inherently bad (pp 36-37). He extends his range with this argument from simply painting to all forms of art, including poetry (pp 36).…
The position Thrasymachus takes on the definition of justice, as well as its importance in society, is one far differing from the opinions of the other interlocutors in the first book of Plato’s Republic. Embracing his role as a Sophist in Athenian society, Thrasymachus sets out to aggressively dispute Socrates’ opinion that justice is a beneficial and valuable aspect of life and the ideal society. Throughout the course of the dialogue, Thrasymachus formulates three major assertions regarding justice. These claims include his opinion that “justice is nothing other than the advantage of the stronger,” “it is just to obey the rulers,” and “justice is really the good of another […] and harmful to the one who obeys and serves.” Socrates continuously challenges these claims using what is now known as the “Socratic method” of questioning, while Thrasymachus works to defend his views. This paper seeks to argue the implausibility of Thrasymachus’ views through an analysis of his main claims regarding justice, as well as his view that injustice brings greater happiness.…
Plato argued that a community has three parts which are guardians, producers, and soldiers and each part performs a particular function. For a community to be just, every element has to perform the role to the best capacity, which is a good worth. The same characters and elements will materialize in the state; have to exist in every person. Someone might respond to Plato’s argument that if the good worth of a community were not in a person, it would be hard for the community to uphold itself. The understanding is that a community is just a collection of people who have formed a sense of laws on living collectively; thereby, every individual would introduce some elements, values and…
Plato – justice was not based on giving every man his due but signified a just proportion between the various parts of society.…