Plato

1
Platos RepublicEditions and Documentation

• http//oll.libertyfund.org/?optioncom_staticxtst
  aticfileshow.php3Ftitle767chapter93807layout
  htmlItemid27
• Marked with section numbers and brief summary on
  the right.
• The edition we adopted has recordings online
• http//www.archive.org/details/platos_republic_090
  2_librivox1 for recordings.
• Listen to the recording at least once.

2
A Prologue to the whole book

• Book I is a prologue. As it introduces the
  reader to the characters of the dialogue, it
  establishes the basic questions of the Republic
  What is justice, and why should someone prefer to
  be just rather than unjust? Most important, it
  acquaints us with both the person and the method
  of the philosopher Socrates.
• Prologue
• 1. a preliminary discourse a preface or
  introductory part of a discourse, poem, or novel.
  
• 2. an introductory speech, often in verse,
  calling attention to the theme of a play.
• Prologue vs. epilogue prelude vs. coda in music

3
Prologue vs. Epiloguesynonyms vs. antonymsa
great way to expand vocabulary

• Prologue--a preliminary discourse a preface or
  introductory part of a discourse, poem, or novel
  an introductory speech, often in verse, calling
  attention to the theme of a play.
• Highlight the word prologue and right click to
  see synonyms!

• Epilogue--1. a concluding part added to a
  literary work, as a novel.
• 2. a speech, usually in verse, delivered by one
  of the actors after the conclusion of a play.

4
The Setting

• The setting is the Piraeus, the port of Athens,
  somewhere around 410.
• A. The Piraeus was a stronghold of the democratic
  opposition to Tyranny.
• B. The setting already suggests a major issue of
  the dialogue Is democracy worth fighting for,
  even dying for?
• C. Because it is a seaport, the Piraeus is filled
  with foreigners. It thus raises a second basic
  question Is diversity a desirable quality of a
  city?

5
The first dialogue is between Socrates and
Cephalus (328d-331d)page 4 in the course reader

• A. Cephalus warmly greets Socrates.
• B. Socrates responds (rather rudely) by asking
  him what it is like to be old and near death. He
  also asks him what is the best thing about being
  rich.
• C. Cephalus says he does not mind being old. The
  erotic madness of youth has passed.
• D. Cephalus is not afraid of death, because he
  has always told the truth and paid back his
  debts.
• E. From these casual remarks, Socrates extracts a
  definition of justice from Cephalus. It is, he
  says, telling the truth and giving back what a
  man has taken from another (331c).
• F. Socrates then refutes this definition of
  justice with a counter-example. If you borrowed a
  knife from a friend and the friend became insane,
  it would not be just to return the knife to him
  or to tell him the truth. (Socrates pushes the
  limit here)
• G. The key question that emerges is What is
  justice itself? This will be seen to be a very
  difficult question to answer.

6
Socrates as a GadflyEthos of his community

• perhaps the most historically accurate of
  Socrates' offenses to the city was his position
  as a social and moral critic. Rather than
  upholding a status quo and accepting the
  development of what he perceived as immorality
  within his region, Socrates questioned the
  collective notion of "might makes right" that he
  felt was common in Greece during this period.
  Plato refers to Socrates as the "gadfly" of the
  state (as the gadfly stings the horse into
  action, so Socrates stung various Athenians),
  insofar as he irritated some people with
  considerations of justice and the pursuit of
  goodness. His attempts to improve the Athenians'
  sense of justice may have been the source of his
  execution.
• Greece was in trouble internalwith Sparta
  (Civil War) externalwith Persians (against
  outside invasion)

7
Socrates and Polemarchus

• The second dialogue is between Socrates and
  Polemarchus (331d-336a).
• A. Polemarchus rescues his father from Socratess
  refutation.
• B. Cephalus leaves (with a smile on his face) to
  perform some religious rituals He is not a
  philosopher.
• C. Polemarchus proposes that it is just to give
  back what is owed, which he then amends to give
  to everyone what is fitting (332b). Socrates
  refutes this definition.

8
Thrasymachus RelativismWhats problem with
relativism?

• The central debate of Book I takes place between
  Socrates and Thrasymachus, who is a Sophist.
  Thrasymachus teaches rhetoric, and he is a
  relativist. His definition of justice is the
  advantage of the stronger (338c), by which he
  means justice is determined by the ruling body.
  For example, in a monarchy, what is advantageous
  to a king would be counted as just. In a
  democracy, whose name literally means rule by
  the people, what is advantageous to the majority
  is just.
• There is no absolute, universal, or objective
  definition of justice. What is counted as just
  varies from regime to regime.

9
Sophist

• 1. ( often initial capital letter ) Greek History
  .
• a. any of a class of professional teachers in
  ancient Greece who gave instruction in various
  fields, as in general culture, rhetoric,
  politics, or disputation.
• b. a person belonging to this class at a later
  period who, while professing to teach skill in
  reasoning, concerned himself with ingenuity and
  specious effectiveness rather than soundness of
  argument.
• 2. a person who reasons adroitly and speciously
  rather than soundly.

10
Relativism

• noun
• Philosophy . any theory holding that criteria of
  judgment are relative,  varying with individuals
  and their environments.

11
Tyranny of the MajorityJohn Stuart Mill

• The phrase "tyranny of the majority" originates
  with Alexis de Tocqueville in his Democracy in
  America, where it is the name of an entire
  section (1835, 1840) and was further popularized
  by John Stuart Mill, who cites de Tocqueville, in
  On Liberty (1859).

12
A straw man

• A straw man is a component of an argument and is
  an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of
  an opponent's position. To "attack a straw man"
  is to create the illusion of having refuted a
  proposition by replacing it with a superficially
  similar yet un-equivalent proposition (the "straw
  man"), and refuting it, without ever having
  actually refuted the original position.

13
Thrasymachus definition of justice

• Thrasymachus, a Sophist, enters the scene. He
  defines justice as the advantage of the
  stronger (338c).
• A. Justice is whatever is advantageous to the
  ruler.
• B. In a democracy, justice is whatever is
  advantageous to the people.
• C. There is no absolute definition of justice it
  is relative to the regime.
• D. Rhetoric is often defined as the art of
  persuasion and goes hand in hand with relativism.

14
Socrates Refutation

• Socrates refutes Thrasymachus (339a340a). His
  first argument against the Sophist is the
  following
• A. Thrasymachus believes that it is just to obey
  all laws.
• B. He agrees that sometimes rulers make mistakes.
  
• C. A mistaken law is one that is not advantageous
  to the ruler.
• D. Because Thrasymachus has agreed that it is
  just to obey all the laws, he is committed to
  saying that it is sometimes just to obey laws
  that are disadvantageous to the ruler.
• E. Thrasymachus has contradicted himself Justice
  both is and is not advantageous to the ruler.

15
Cleitophons Revision

• Cleitophon offers his assistance Justice, he
  proposes, is what the stronger believes to be
  his advantage (340b). a more subjective view
• This is a significant revision of Thrasymachuss
  position, because it eliminates the possibility
  of making mistakes. Cleitophon is a radical
  relativist.
• Thrasymachus rejects Cleitophons suggestion
  because he thinks the ruler is like a craftsman
  (340e) who has real knowledge. (The Greek word
  for craft is technê, which can also be
  translated as art.)

16
Socrates presents a second refutation of
Thrasymachus

• Socrates presents a second refutation of
  Thrasymachus (341c342e).
• A. The ruler is like a craftsman. He has a
  technê, a craft or an art.
• B. All craftsmen are directed toward and seek the
  advantage of the object of their craft.
• 1. The doctor cares for the sick.
• 2. The pilot cares for the sailors.
• 3. Therefore, all craftsmen are naturally
  directed toward seeking and providing for the
  advantage (341d) of the object of their technê,
  not themselves!

17
Injustice is superior to justice

• Thrasymachus changes his position Injustice is
  superior to justice. It is more powerful than
  justice. Being unjust is the way to bring
  advantage to oneself. (See 344c.)
• A. This a radical challenge to the goodness of
  justice.
• B. It raises a fundamental question Why be just
  when, if you are unjust, you can benefit
  yourself? What is the value of justice?

18
The third refutation of Thrasymachus

• Socrates presents a third refutation of
  Thrasymachus (345e346e).
• A. Ruling is like a craft or an art (technê).
• B. Craftsmen receive wages for their work.
• C. This implies that their work is not simply for
  their own advantage they demand wages in order
  to be rewarded for their work. No art generates
  its own advantage. (See 346e.)
• D. Rulers receive wages.
• E. Therefore, ruling benefits those who are
  ruled, not the rulers.

19
Hint on your summaryhttp//www.archive.org/detail
s/platos_republic_0902_librivox1 for recording

• At the Narrative Level Use the Six Ws to
  contextualize the text and to orient yourselves.
• The first half of page 1 offers such information
  as the themes of the dialogue, and participants.
  
• Write your summary here

20
Contextual Information

• When Book I opens, Socrates is returning home
  from a religious festival with his young friend
  Glaucon, one of Platos brothers.
• Ironic situation
• A torch-race on horseback in honor of the
  goddess
• Why is it a novelty?
• Whats so dangerous?

21
Got Waylaid (page 1)by force (of the stronger)

• On the road, Socrates and his companions are
  waylaid by Adeimantus, another brother of Plato,
  and the young nobleman Polemarchus, who convinces
  them to take a detour to his house.
• There they join Polemarchuss aging father
  Cephalus, and others. Socrates and the elderly
  man begin a discussion on the merits of old age.
  This discussion quickly turns to the subject of
  justice.
• And are you stronger than all these? for if not,
  you will have to remain where you are (Course
  Reader 1). Playful but heavy-handed.

22
Conversation Journey (2)Reason by analogy

• the more the pleasures of the body fade away,
  the greater to me is the pleasure and charm of
  conversation.
• I replied There is nothing which for my part I
  like better, Cephalus, than conversing with aged
  men for I regard them as travelers who have gone
  a journey which I too may have to go, and of whom
  I ought to enquire, whether the way is smooth and
  easy, or rugged and difficult (2).

23
Metaphor (page 2)

• Men of my age flock together we are birds of a
  feather. (the subject/the predicate)
• The curtain of night fell on somewhere.
• Midnight ?? is a novel written by Mao Dun
  published in 1933. The title refers to the
  political situation in China, the darkest moment
  in history.

24
Patrimony (page 3)

• noun, plural -nies.
• 1. an estate inherited from one's father or
  ancestors.
• 2. any quality, characteristic, etc., that is
  inherited heritage.
• 3. the aggregate of one's property.
• 4. the estate or endowment of a church, religious
  house, etc.

25
Reason by analogy

• the makers of fortunes have a second love of
  money as a creation of their own, resembling the
  affection of authors for their own poems, or of
  parents for their children, besides that natural
  love of it for the sake of use and profit which
  is common to them and all men (3).

26
Old age, wealth, reflectionsuch topics lead to
justice

• when a man thinks himself to be near death,
  fears and cares enter into his mind which he
  never had before the tales of a world below and
  the punishment which is exacted there of deeds
  done here were once a laughing matter to him, but
  now he is tormented with the thought that they
  may be true either from the weakness of age, or
  because he is now drawing nearer to that other
  place, he has a clearer view of these things
  suspicions and alarms crowd thickly upon him, and
  he begins to reflect and consider what wrongs he
  has done to others (3).

27
What is justice? (4)Restorative Justice

• Simonides (a minor Greek poet) Speak the truth
  and pay your debt
• Justice is to return what is due
• Socrates challenge Justice is more than just
  return what is due.

28
Cephalus vs. SocratesContradict by shifting to
another contextor extending to another scenario

• Cephalus, a rich, well-respected elder of the
  city, and host to the group, is the first to
  offer a definition of justice. Cephalus acts as
  spokesman for the Greek tradition. His definition
  of justice is an attempt to articulate the basic
  Hesiodic conception that justice means living up
  to your legal obligations and being honest.
• Socrates defeats this formulation with a
  counterexample returning a weapon to a madman,
  better yet, to a murderer!. You owe the madman
  his weapon in some sense if it belongs to him
  legally, and yet this would be an unjust act,
  since it would jeopardize the lives of others. So
  it cannot be the case that justice is nothing
  more than honoring legal obligations and being
  honest.

29
Socrates shifted a conceptReason vs. Fallacy

• To return what you own to someone
• This falls into restorative justice

• To return a weapon to a murderer is a different
  situation
• Socrates did not offer the scenario how we got
  this weapon from the murderer in the first place.
  After the murder, the murderer is no longer
  entitled to his weapon. The law will override
  his ownership of the weapon.

30
Justice is to do good to a friend, evil to an
enemy. (page 5)

• Says Polemarchus quoting Si?monides, 556?468?
  b.c.,  Greek poet justice is the art that gives
  good to a friend, evil to an enemy. (challenge
  this definition)
• Reason by analogy
• Physician/pilot/

31
Greek Traditional View of Justice

• Traditionally, the Greek conception of justice
  came from poets like Hesiod, who in Works and
  Days presents justice as a certain set of acts
  that must be followed. The reason for being just,
  as presented by the traditional view, was
  consideration of reward and punishment Zeus
  rewards those who are good and punishes those who
  are bad.

32
Should we harm our enemies?What if we are on the
wrong side of history?

• Socrates reveals many inconsistencies in this
  view. He points out that, because our judgment
  concerning friends and enemies is fallible, this
  credo will lead us to harm the good and help the
  bad. We are not always friends with the most
  virtuous individuals, nor are our enemies always
  the scum of society. Socrates points out that
  there is something incoherent in the idea of
  harming someone (even if our enemy) through
  justice.

33
If we are ignorant of human nature, can we tell
who are our friends and who are our enemies?

• But see the consequence --Many a man who is
  ignorant of human nature has friends who are bad
  friends, and in that case he ought to do harm to
  them and he has good enemies whom he ought to
  benefit (8).
• Stiff application (paralysis in James Joyces
  words) of the rule that we should do good to our
  friends and do harm to our enemies could be
  consequential.

34
http//www.biblegateway.com/passage/?searchExodus
21versionNIVin the Old Testament

• New International Version eye for eye, tooth for
  tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for
  burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise (Exodus
  21).
• King James Version Eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
  hand for hand, foot for foot, Burning for
  burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

35
How to react to violence?How to right a wrong?

• What is the logical consequence if responding to
  violence with violence?
• Two wrongs wont make it right.
• Review Jesus teaching in the New Testament
• 38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye
  for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth 39 But I
  say unto you, That ye resist not evil but
  whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek,
  turn to him the other also. (Mathew 5)

36
Justice (utilitarian view 6-7)

• Socrates You think that justice may be of use in
  peace as well as in war?
• Is justice something that is useful? If it is, it
  is useful always for something else. Then the
  definition is shifted to something external.
• Justice has its criteria, independent of
  utilities.
• Autonomous vs. heteronomous
• Heteronomy the condition of being under the
  domination of an outside authority, either human
  or divine.
• Autonomy freedom, independence, free of external
  influences, out of your own free will, your own
  choice

37
By shifting terms,Socrates led us to such a
definition

• Now justice seems an art of theft! (7)
• By adding words, by shifting contexts
• Look for inconsistencies and contradictions

38
Real vs. seemingreal vs. appearance

• Plato talks so much on the distinction between
  the real and appearance. This has something to
  do with his insistence on seeking the truth.

• Seeming in appearance but not necessarily in
  actuality with seemingly effortless ease

39
Allusion to Homer (7)

• Au?tolycus, the maternal father of Odysseus.
  Classical Mythology a thief, the son of Hermes
  and Chione, and the grandfather of Odysseus. He
  possessed the power of changing the shape of
  whatever he stole and of making it and himself
  invisible as if he wore a magic ring.

40
Utilitarianism is a form of ConsequentialismShoul
d we Do the right things in the wrong way?

• Justice is an art of theft to be used for the
  good of friends and for the harm of enemies. (7)
• Meaning is determined by consequences.
• Deng Xiaoping (1904 1997) It doesnt matter
  whether it is a white cat or a black cat as long
  as it catches rats, it is a good cat.
• It doesnt matter how rats are caught.
• British--Taking over Hong Kong as a result of the
  first Opium War in 1939.
• Does it matter if the means by which a goal is
  accomplished is not ethical?

41
Intentionalism

• Irony
• A surgeon wanted to save a patient but the
  patient died on the operation table
• Unintended consequences
• Premeditated murder is the crime of wrongfully
  causing the death of another human being (also
  known as murder) after rationally considering the
  timing or method of doing so, in order to either
  increase the likelihood of success, or to evade
  detection or apprehension.

42
Sillybillies (page 9)a name for someone,
especially a child, who is behaving in a silly way

• Silly Billy was a type of clown common at fairs
  in England during the 19th century. They were
  also common in London as a street entertainer,
  along with the similar clown Billy Barlow. The
  act included playing the part of a fool or idiot,
  impersonating a child and singing comic songs.
• The name is popular because of its nice rhyme and
  was used as a generic nickname for foolish
  people, especially those named William such as
  Prince William Frederick and King William IV.

43
Making ConcessionsRhetorical Function

• Polemarchus and I may have been guilty of a
  little mistake in the argument, but I can assure
  you that the error was not intentional (9).
• Granted however
• It is true that however
• Make a little turn, as a little creek is trying
  to gather more water so that later it will rush
  forward with greater momentum

44
Interdict 10

• noun
• 1. Civil Law . any prohibitory act or decree of a
  court or an administrative officer.
• 2. Roman Catholic Church . a punishment by
  which the faithful, remaining in communion with
  the church, are forbidden certain sacraments and
  prohibited from participation in certain sacred
  acts.
• 3. Roman Law . a general or special order of the
  Roman praetor forbidding or commanding an act,
  especially in cases involving disputed
  possession.
• verb (used with object)
• 4. to forbid prohibit.
• 5. Ecclesiastical . to cut off authoritatively
  from certain ecclesiastical functions and
  privileges.
• 6. to impede by steady bombardment Constant air
  attacks interdicted the enemy's advance.

45
Thrasymachus definition of justice (11)

• Listen, then, he said I proclaim that justice is
  nothing else than the interest of the stronger.
• Analysis is to take things apart.
• For Thrasymachus, justice is tied to interest on
  the one hand and to the stronger on the other.
• Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun
  ... Mao Zedong (1893  1976)

46
Forms of Government (11)

• Tyrannies
• Democracies
• Aristocracies--Origin 155565  (lt Middle
  French aristocratie ) lt Medieval Latin
  aristocracia  (variant of -tia ) lt Greek
  aristokratía  rule of the best.
• See more on the topic, read Republic VIII.
• http//classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html
• Translated by Benjamin Jowett (1817 1893)

47
I ask no quarter at your hand (13)

• Quarter mercy or pity, as shown to a defeated
  opponent (esp. in the phrases ask for  or give
  quarter )
• Metonymyassociative in nature
• One thing for another
• "Hollywood" for American cinema,
• Whitehouse for the government
• I am all ears.

48
Thrasymachus fallacy 16Something that prevails
must be right!

• Thrasymachus cited so many pieces of empirical
  evidence to support that justice is the interest
  of the stronger.
• Reflect on the limitations of Empiricism!

• But all this is reversed in the case of the
  unjust man. I am speaking, as before, of
  injustice on a large scale in which the advantage
  of the unjust is more apparent

49
Page 19

• Thrasymachus says that the life of the unjust is
  more advantageous than that of the just,
• Tied to benefits/interests
• Warranted by the large number
• Everywhere
• But it doesnt necessarily mean it is right.

50
Socrates Justice is harmony 23

• And this is because injustice creates divisions
  and hatreds and fighting, and justice imparts
  harmony and friendship is not that true,
  Thrasymachus?
• And is not injustice equally fatal when existing
  in a single person in the first place rendering
  him incapable of action because he is not at
  unity with himself, and in the second place
  making him an enemy to himself and the just? Is
  not that true, Thrasymachus?

51
Persons in the dialogueGlaucon Adei?mantus

• Glaucon (Greek G?a???? born circa 445 BC) son
  of Ariston, was the philosopher Plato's older
  brother. He is primarily known as a major
  conversant with Socrates in Republic, and the
  interlocutor during the Allegory of the Cave.

• Plato's eldest brother. Adeimantus plays an
  important part in The Republic and is briefly
  mentioned in The Apology and the Parmenides. In
  The Republic, Adeimantus is noted for his concern
  for education

52
Persons in the Dialogue

• Polemarchus, an A?thenian philosopher. Plato's
  Republic is set at Polemarchus' house in the
  Piraeus, a seaport that was located next to their
  shield manufacturing store that employed 120
  skilled slaves.
• Cephalus, son of Lysanias from Syracuse (5th
  c.BC), a wealthy metic and elderly arms
  manufacturer living in Athens who engages in
  dialogue with Socrates in Plato's Republic. He
  was the father of orator Lysias, philosopher
  Polemarchus and Euthydemus.

53
Persons in the Dialogue

• Thrasymachus (T?as?µa???) (ca. 459-400 BCE) was a
  sophist of Ancient Greece best known as a
  character in Plato's Republic.
• "Thus, Socrates, injustice on a sufficiently
  large scale is a stronger, freer, and a more
  masterful thing than justice, and, as I said in
  the beginning, it is the advantage of the
  stronger that is the just, while the unjust is
  what profits man's self and is for his
  advantage.

54
Persons in the Dialogue

• Cleitophon is a character in the Republic who
  agrees with Thrasymachus assertion that justice
  is the interest of the stronger (Course Reader
  12). When this assertion is challenged with the
  notion that perhaps the stronger does not know
  what is in his best interest, Thrasymachus and
  Cleitophon diverge. Thrasymachus asserts that he
  who is truly strong must know what is best
  Cleitophon solves the problem by saying that
  justice is merely following the will of the
  stronger in all cases.

55
Setting Pi?raeus

• a seaport in SE Greece the port of Athens.
  186,223.
• Plato opens his Republic with the words, I went
  down to the Piraeus yesterday.  The first verb
  is kataben, from katabaino, meaning I went
  down, the same verb that is so prevalent in Book
  11 of the Odyssey, in which Odysseus offers his
  blood and descends into the underworld.

56
Thracians

• The ancient Thracians (Ancient Greek T???e?,
  Latin Thraci) were a group of Indo-European
  tribes inhabiting areas including Thrace in
  Southeastern Europe.
• of or pertaining to Thrace or its inhabitants.

57
Reason by Analogyit is interdisciplinary in
nature

• Moving from one context to another context
• If something holds true in one context, but not
  true in another context, then it is not
  universal.
• Reason by analogy is a way to test if a
  theory/claim holds water or not.

58
The Law of Contradiction

• In classical logic, the law of non-contradiction
  (LNC) (or the principle of non-contradiction
  (PNC), or the principle of contradiction) is the
  second of the so-called three classic laws of
  thought. It states that contradictory statements
  cannot both at the same time be true, e.g. the
  two propositions "A is B" and "A is not B" are
  mutually exclusive.

59
Justice Interest

• and as the government must be supposed to have
  power, the only reasonable conclusion is, that
  everywhere there is one principle of justice,
  which is the interest of the stronger (11).
• Here Thrasymachus associated justice with
  interest, and interest are translated into
  benefits.

60
Aporia ?? In Platos early dialogues, aporia
usually spells the end

• 1. Rhetoric . the expression of a simulated or
  real doubt, as about where to begin or what to do
  or say.
• 2. Logic, Philosophy . a difficulty encountered
  in establishing the theoretical truth of a
  proposition, created by the presence of evidence
  both for and against it.