PHILOS25A The Republic

definitions of justice (book I)

cephalus: paying debts, speaking truth

polemarchus: helping friends, harming enemies

thrasymachus: works to the advantage of other people, not to those who behave justly

socrates' refutations (book I)

cephalus: not just to return weapons to a mad friend

polemarchus: judgment concerning friends and enemies is fallible, leads to harming good, helping bad

thrasymachus: promoting injustice as virtue (it cannot be bc it is contrary to wisdom, which is a virtue); justice as adherence to certain rules that enables a group to act coherently; justice as virtue of soul -> virtue = health of soul -> justice is desirable bc justice is health of soul.

glaucon's challenge (book II)

justice valued for its consequences, not in and of itself

no harm principle

a just person never harms others

function argument (book II)

function of x has an appropriate virtue and vice. virtue allows the soul to function well. justice is a virtue of the soul. therefore, justice enables the soul to function well.

guardians (book II)

elite class responsible for protecting and ruling

education of the guardians (book II)

poetry to shape character; physical training for war and geared to benefit soul bc body benefits soul when latter is in good condition, not vice versa.

stories about gods and heroes (book II & III)

presenting the gods as causes of good, unchanging -> refrain from lies and deception

imitation (book III)

stories told in simple narration (third person) rather than imitative narration (first person) bc to imitate evil is to create potential to become evil

musical education (book III)

forms our moral taste because harmony and rhythm permeate the inner part of the soul, affecting it so strongly and bringing it grace.

medicine (book III)

medicine helps people get well, but if people are seriously ill and it interferes with their ability to live an active life, then they should be allowed to die.

gymnastic (book III)

gymnastics strengthens the spirited element in our nature; music moderates it and makes it amenable to reason.

ruling class (book III)

those who won't easily abandon evaluative beliefs under the influence of (i) persuasion, (ii) pain and suffering, or (iii) pleasure or fear

myth of the metals (book III)

gold: guardians; silver: auxiliaries; bronze: farming and other crafts

principle of opposites (book IV)

the same thing will not do or undergo opposites with respect to the same thing and in relation to the same thing at the same time.

thirsty man argument (book IV)

appetite is opposed by reason; by virtue of the principle of opposites, the soul must be divided into at least two parts.

city: soul analogy (book IV)

justice in the city is easier to discern because it is larger than the soul

tripartition of the soul (book IV)

appetitive: pursuit of bodily desires

rational: thinking

spirited: seeks honor

justice: each of the three parts of the soul performing its function

happiness of the city versus the citizens (book IV)

individual happiness < city's happiness

virtues of the city and soul (book IV)

courage = military

wisdom = rulers

moderation = agreement over who should rule

justice = everyone in the city doing their respective roles.

just man's actions

inner harmony with the soul, where each part performs its proper function under the rule of reason

three waves (book IV-V)

1. women doing same work as men

2. wives and children held in common

3. complete guardians must be philosophers

possibility versus approachability (book IV-V)

the city's virtues must be achievable within the constraints of nature; a city that is outside of those constraints is irrelevant to determining what is just, wise, etc.

philosophers versus lovers of sights and sounds (book V-VI)

philosophers -> concerned with what is

lovers of sights and sounds -> non-philosophers concerned both with what is and is not (opinions); sights and sounds = the Fs, not the actual Forms

why philosophers should rule (book V-VI)

- only philosophers have knowledge and thus wisdom

- only those who want to know the truth can be philosophers, requiring a certain sort of nature and character that involves at least virtue.

philosophers useless or vicious (book V-VI)

- useless: epistemic and pragmatic misunderstanding of what knowledge is needed to rule; society becomes antithetical to correct ideals

- vicious: philosophic natures corrupted and non-philosophic natures drawn to attempt philosophy to fill in the gap corrupted philosophers have left behind

allegory of the cave (book VII)

representative of the soul's turning to knowledge (enlightenment) from mistaking image for reality.

the sun and the Form of the Good (book VI-VII)

- sun is visible and makes other things visible; cause of visibility and the existence of things that see and are seen

- goodness is intelligible and makes all other things intelligible; cause of the existence of things that know and are known

stages of knowledge

imagination = images of ordinary objects, belief = ordinary objects, thought = considers forms but using ordinary objects as images and by means of hypotheses, understanding = adequate grasp of the Forms without hypotheses