PLATO 

Readings: 

R. Solomon and  C. Martin, Morality and the Good Life. 4th ed. McGraw-Hill, 2003. Pp. 68-105.

S. E. Stumpf, Socrates to Sartre:  A History of Philosophy. 6th ed. (Boston: McGraw-Hill) 1999. Pp. 44-74.

I. Background Information

A. Biographical Information -

427-347 BCE, Athenian, disciple of Socrates (470-399 BCE) teacher of Aristotle

born in Athens during Peloponnesian Wars

relatives among the Thirty Tyrants

founded of the Academy in 387 BCE

 

B. Dialogue Form

1. Socratic induction

 

2. Socratic irony

 

3. Socratic method

 

4. Plato’s ideas expressed through entirety of the dialogue, not just the views of the character Socrates

 

C. Division into "Books"

 

D. Plato rejected the ideas of the Sophists. Stumpf, p. 59:

"(1) that moral rules are fashioned deliberately by each community and have relevance and authority only for people in that place;"

 

"(2) that moral rules are unnatural, that people obey them only because of the pressure of public opinion, and that if their acts could be done in private, even the ‘good’ among us would not follow the rules of morality;"

 

II. The Republic - General Information

A. The Republic

Dialogue about the GOOD and JUSTICE

Blueprint for utopia: controversial social organization.

Links knowledge, virtue, and happiness.

B. Book I - Discussion: What is justice? Cephalus, Polemachus, Thrasymachus

 

 

III. Book II - The Ring of Gyges Section: Glaucon's Praise of Injustice

A. Setting the scene

B. Two examples.

1. The story of the Ring of Gyges

2. The contrast between the perfectly just man whom everyone thinks is unjust and the perfectly unjust man whom everyone thinks is just.

C. Glaucon's Conclusions about Justice, Human Nature, and Happiness

1. Nature and Origin of Justice - Justice result of a social contract.  Justice is a mean between doing and suffering injustice.

 

 

2. All humans instinctively pursue their own interests. Therefore, they would do injustice if they could get away with it:  "For all men believe in their hearts that injustice is far more profitable to the individual than justice."

 

3. Justice and individual happiness are distinct.   - People would not be just without a reward.

4. People praise justice and virtue, but find them difficult. They find honesty less profitable. They call the wicked happy and honor them if they are rich and successful. They claim the gods often make the wicked happy and the good unhappy.
 

D. Flaws in Glaucon's Argument in Ring of Gyges Section

E. Socrates' Response to Glaucon

1. Immediate: Glaucon forces justice and happiness apart, polishing them as if they were two statues.

 

 

2. Analogy between a man and a polis.

 

 

3. Knowledge, virtue, and happiness are inextricably bound. Myth of the Cave illustrates. Justice is universal and absolute. Not a result of social contract or might.

4. Book X - Reward After Death Re-established.

IV. Justice is Harmony of the Parts of the Soul/Parts of the Polis

Knowledge is Virtue - Justice is the proper harmony of the parts of the Soul- Moral Evil is the Result of Ignorance

A. Parts of Soul

Reason

 

Spirit

 

Appetite

B. Analogy of the City and the Just Man

Guardians - (rulers)	Reason	Gold	Wisdom
Auxiliaries- (soldiers)	Spirit	Silver	Courage
Workers	Appetite	Bronze	Temperance- (moderation)

 

Justice means each class fulfills its proper nature and does its own proper work.

C. Image of the Charioteer (Reason) - The Phaedrus

Drives the two horses of Spirit and Appetite (the bad horse).

V. The Myth of the Cave and Theory of Forms - Book VII

A. The Myth of the Cave

1. Story

 

2. Interpretation (See Pojman chart on e-reserve.)

Cave = physical, sensible world, world of becoming

Sunlit world = intelligible world, world of being, world of forms

Things in the cave = our physical, sensible objects which are but pale copies of the forms

[if read in parallel to Plato’s image of the divided line, the shadows and echoes represent a lower level of knowledge than the objects being carried on the raised platform in the cave. In turn these represent a lower level than the forms in the sunlit world. As the man ascends out of the cave he gains in knowledge]

Ascending = darkness to light, ignorance to knowledge

 

Returning

B. Plato is an idealist and an absolutist.

C. Relationships and Characteristics of Forms and Sensible Objects

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

D. Related Functions of the Theory of Forms

1. Establishes concepts like goodness and justice as objective, non-relative, absolute.

 

2. Helps us to define and uncover the essence of a concept

 

3. Provides a perfect standard to measure individual objects against.

 

4. Avoids difficulties with the senses

 

5. Proves the immortality of the soul.

E. How Do We Know the Forms (See Stumpf, 58-59)

1. Recollection

 

2. Dialectic

 

3. Eros - Desire