Words: 1337
He would indulge all Of his materialistic, power-hungry, and erotically lustful urges. This tale proves that people are only just because they are afraid of punishment for injustice. No one is just because justice is desirable in itself. Glaucoma ends his speech with an attempt to demonstrate that not only do people prefer to be unjust rather than just, but that it is rational for them to do so. The perfectly unjust life, he argues, is more pleasant than the perfectly just life. In making this claim, he draws two detailed portraits of the just and unjust man.
The completely unjust man, who indulges all his urges, is honored and rewarded with wealth. The completely just man, on the other hand, is scorned and wretched. 7. What does Glaucoma ask Socrates to prove? Justice is good for its own sake. . Why do they attempt to found a city? Socrates is reluctant to respond to the challenge that justice is desirable in and of itself, but the others compel him. He lays out his plan of attack. There are two kinds of political justice-??the justice belonging to a city or state-??and individual-??the justice of a particular man.
Since a city is bigger than a man, he will proceed upon the assumption that it is easier to first look for justice at the political level and later inquire as to whether there is any analogous virtue to be found in the individual. To locate political justice, he will build up a refectory just city from scratch, and see where and when justice enters it. 9. What is Socrates’ view of censorship? What problems is he trying to solve by means of censorship? Are these real problems? 10. What is the “Noble Lie’? Why does Socrates say it must be told? Noble Lie: Division of groups made by metals. Gold, silver and iron.
What puts someone in each group? Their souls. Ruled by: Reason -?? Guardian – Gold Spiritedness – Warrior – Silver Desire – Craftsmen – Iron 11. Why is the Noble Lie “Noble”? Books IV-v: Building the City. 4: Justice in soul/city 5: Common Family 6: Knowledge – Ship metaphor 12. How does Socrates define justice in the city? How does this kind of justice serve the common good? Justice in the city and as a political arrangement is when each person plays their appropriate role. What is due to each person is rendered all at once. Each is assigned the role in society that best suits their nature and that best serves society as a whole.
Four virtues in the city: Wisdom – Guardians know how the city should be run Courage -?? Lies with the auxiliaries (civic courage) Moderation – Accepting the role of the other classes/ranks Justice – Principle of specialization – everyone does the job they’re best suited for. How you view your own class and what you do. Moderate Guardian – Ruling over the auxiliary and craftsmen and guiding them Moderate Auxiliary -?? Taking instructions Of the guardians. Better than craftsmen and must protect them. Moderate Craftsmen – Knowing your role and knowing you’re below the other two and taking instructions/law from them. 3. How does he define justice in the soul? How does this kind of justice serve the good of the individual? Justice in the individual, as in the city, involves the correct power relationship among parts, with each part occupying its appropriate role. In the individual, the “parts” are not classes of society; instead, they are aspects of the soul-??or sources of desire. There are three parts to the soul: Rational Part – Lusts after truth – guardians Spiritual Part – Lusts after honor – auxiliaries Appetitive Part -?? Lusts after everything else -?? producing class/craftsmen 14.
Are these two kinds of justice compatible? 15. What are Socrates’ arguments for the equality Of men and women? Socrates declares that females will be reared and trained alongside males, receiving the same education and taking on the same political roles. Though e acknowledges that in many respects men and women have different natures, he believes that in the relevant respect-??the division among appetitive, spirited, and rational people-??women fall along the same natural lines as men. Some are naturally appetitive, some naturally spirited, and some naturally rational.
The ideal city will treat and make use of them as such. 16. Why, according to Socrates, is communism of the family necessary for justice? Socrates explains that these rules of procreation are the only way to ensure a unified city. In most cities the citizens’ loyalty is divided. They care bout the good of the whole, but they care even more about their own family. In the just city, everyone is considered as family and treated as such. There are no divided loyalties. As Socrates puts it, everyone in the city says “mine” about the same things. The city is unified because it shares all its aims and concerns. 7. Why does the just city require philosopher-kings? Books VI-VI I: 18. Who and what is the philosopher? What are his virtues? 19. What is the philosopher’s relation to the city? What should it be? 20. What is the significance of the following images: the ship, the divided line, the sun, and the cave? Why are they given? The Ship: The Sun: The sun, Socrates tells us, is to the visible realm what the Good is to the intelligible realm (the realm of Forms) in three respects. First, while the sun is the source of light, and hence, visibility in the visible realm, the Good is the source of intelligibility.
Second, the sun is responsible for giving us sight, because it is only by incorporation of sun-like stuff into it that the eye is enabled to see. Similarly, the Good gives us the capacity for knowledge. Finally, the sun is responsible for causing things to exist (to “come to be”) in the visible realm. The sun regulates the seasons, it allows flowers to bloom, and it makes animals give birth. The Good, in turn, is responsible for the existence of Forms, for the “coming to be” in the intelligible realm. The Form of the Good, Socrates says, is “beyond being’-??it is the cause of all existence.
The Line: The analogy of the line is meant to illustrate the ways of accessing the world, the four grades of knowledge and opinion available to us. Visible Intellectual [(elimination) (Trust)][(Thought) (U understanding)] Dialectic Reflections Shadows & Objects Math & Geometry Imagine, says Socrates, a line broken into four segments. The bottom two segments represent our access to the visible realm, while the top two represent our access to the intelligible. The lowest grade of cognitive activity is imagination.
A person in the state of imagination considers images and reflections the most real things in the world. The next stage on the line is belief. Belief also looks toward the realm of the visible, but it makes contact with real things. A person in the stage of belief thinks that sensible particulars are the most real things in the world. Further up the line, there are two grades of knowledge: thought, and understanding. Although thought deals in Forms, it uses sensible particulars as images to aid in its reasoning as when geometers use a picture of a triangle to help them reason about triangularly.
Thought also relies on hypotheses, or unproven assumptions. Understanding uses neither of these crutches. Understanding is a purely abstract science. The reasoning involved deals exclusively with Forms, working with an UN- hypothetical first principle, which is the Form Of the Good. TO reach understanding, an individual using the crutches necessary to thought, works his way up with philosophical dialectic toward the Form of the Good. Once oh reach the Form of the Good, you have hit on your first principle, a universal proposition which makes all unproven hypotheses unnecessary.