PHL 225

  • Ancient Philosophy is distinguished by its emphasis on the natural order.
  • Various things be it political state or a person's behavior, are deemed as either good or bad insofar as they accord with the natural order. To the extent that something accords with the natural order it is said to exhibit virtue. To the extent that something oppose the natural order, it is said to exhibit vice.
    • Examples of vices and Virtues
    • Virtues: Honesty, courage, justice
    • Vices: Dishonesty, cowardice, injustice
  • For Plato, a legitimates political system is one which exhibits the virtue of justice and which also cultivates this virtue in its citizens
    • Justice: The virtue of doing what one is best suited for and not meddling in what one is not suited for.
  • For Plato, the natural order is derived from the forms.
  • Form: Those entities perceptible only by the mind( the 'intelligible world') which gives rise to the things in the 'perceptible world'
  • Plato believes that true knowledge can only be gotten by apprehending the forms. •
  • Because he believes that only philosophers can apprehend the forms, he believes that only they have true knowledge and are, therefore, fit to rule (philosopher-kings).

Two Primary Issues

  • Is it better to be unjust or just?
    • A. The characters of the Republic identify three kinds of goods:

     1. Goods for their own sake (e.g., pleasures); 2. Goods for their own sake and for the results they bring (e.g., knowledge); 3. Goods for the results they bring only (e.g., poor tasting medicine).

  • B. While Socrates believes that justice is a #2 good, Glaucon believes that it is a #3 good. He uses the 'Ring of Gyges' example to make his point.
    • In the story, Gyges finds a ring that turns him invisible. While invisible, he is able to get away with committing any unjust act that he undertakes. Glaucon claims that any intelligent man would prefer to be unjust if he were placed in the position of Gyges. This indicates that injustice is, in itself, more profitable than justice. The challenge to Socrates is to show that this is not the case.
    • What is the nature of justice?
  • A perfectly ordered state exhibits the four virtues.

     1. Wisdom: knowledge of what is good for the state. 2. Courage: the ability to protect itself by knowing what should be feared and what should not be feared. 3. Temperance: (i.e., self-control) the ability to let the better part rule over the worse. 4. Justice: it is organized in such a way that its parts do only what they are cut out to do.

It is in virtue of being just that a political system follows the natural order.

  • B. Classes in Plato's Republic

  

  1. Philosopher-kings: associated primarily with the virtue of wisdom;
  2. Soldiers: associated primarily with the virtue of courage;
  3. Producers/Citizens: associated primarily with the virtue of temperance.
  4. All of the Republic's inhabitants exhibit the virtue of justice.
  • C. Plato believes that the human soul (psyche) is like the state in being composed of three distinct parts
  1. Reason (mind) - analogous with philosopher-kings;
  2. Appetite (body) - analogous to producers;
  3. Spirit (will) - analogous to soldiers.

Plato believes that the spirited part of the soul is the servant of either reason or the appetite.

Plato believes that women should be given the same opportunities/education as men.

The mere fact that they are biologically different does not justify ruling out women from certain occupations. Such differences are irrelevant, for example, to whether or not one's nature is suited to the life of a philosopher or a soldier.

  • Highest Good: That which we desire for its own stack and for the sake of which we desire everything else.

  • Aristotle believed that Happiness( eudaimonia) is the highest Good for human beings

    • Happiness: Flourishing/living well. Not equivalent to pleasure

  • What is Happiness Happiness is not: pleasure, honor, virtue, wealth.

    • Each of these things is desired partly for their own sakes, but also partly as a means to happiness.

  • Aristotle believes that we can understand what Happiness is for human beings by identifying what a human being's function is.

    • Function: A thing's characteristic or unique activity. What a thing does best.
    • Aristotle claims that a human being's function is the rational activity of the soul.

  • Because he assumes that the Highest Good (i.e., Happiness) for a particular thing lies in its performing its function well, he concludes that happiness for a human being lies in reasoning well or reasoning in accordance with virtue.

    • Virtue: A particular disposition that enables us to perform our function well/with excellence.

  • Moral virtue aims at the mean

    • The Mean: The proper balance between the two vices of deficiency and excess.
    • The Mean is apprehended by reason.