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Living in a republic
A republic essay
Philosophy ancient greece culture
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“The Republic” was written by a man using the pseudonym “Plato” in 360 B.C.E.; “his first name was Aristocles, son of Ariston of the deme Colytus” (Mark, 2009). Plato was a Greek Philosopher. “Plato can from an aristocratic family; they were well-connected politically in Athens” (Mark, 2009). Plato’s background gave him the foundation for “The Republic” additionally, Plato used his own family members as characters. According to Joshua Mark in his article “Plato” he states that “it seems Plato was expected to pursue a career in politics but Plato’s interests were in the arts and writing”. During the time that Plato lived Athens had experienced several wars; these wars and their outcomes along with the effects a corrupt politician had on an individual and on society as a whole played a role in how Plato saw the world.
“In the Republic” the reader gets a sense of what Plato felt a society should be and how it should
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Because of this the idea of what is shame, and pleasures are different for each of these people. Socrates and Glaucon are deciding what method to use to tell if a person is telling the truth and the importance of truth. “Socrates: Consider the matter this way: how should we judge things if we want to judge them well? Isn’t it by experience, knowledge, and argument? Or could someone have better criteria than these?”( Plato, 2012). Socrates has asked Glaucon where truth lies and how a person learns different varieties of truth. This means that to each person the meaning of truth and justice is different additionally the knowledge that we learn will be different with each person. The two men go on to look at how each type of man has learned truth, knowledge and his experiences. They find in the end that the philosopher is the one with all of these criteria and is the most well rounded of them
Plato. Republic. Trans. G.M.A. Grube and C.D.C. Reeve. Plato Complete Works. Ed. John M. Cooper. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1997.
Plato’s character in “The Ring of Gyges” is trying to convey certain points about human nature and wisdom. In Glaucon’s fictional story, Gyges is a shepherd who stumbles upon a mysterious ring which allows him the power to become invisible. Gyges eventually gives up his lowly life as a shepherd and becomes an authoritative and crooked dictator due to the power of the ring. Glaucon’s main point in this story is that people are inherently immoral and will look out for themselves over the good of others. Due to his assumption about the nature of the human race Glaucon proclaims that in order to keep human’s from causing damage to others our social order should emphasize a government that will contain their constituents. Glaucon’s proposed social order became the building blocks of the social contract theory of government; “People in a society mutually agreeing not to harm one another and setting up sanctions when they do,” (Caste, 2014).
Plato. The Republic. Classics of Moral and Political Theory. 2nd ed. Michael L. Morgan. Indianapolis : Hackett Publishing Company, 1996. 32 - 246.
...cting unjustly. Therefore, justice is determined to be intrinsically valuable from the negative intrinsic value of injustice that was demonstrated, as well as from parts of the soul working together correctly. Glaucon also wants Plato to show that a just life is better than an unjust life. It has been shown that when the soul is in harmony, it only acts justly. It is in a person’s best interests to have a healthy soul, which is a just soul, so that the person can be truly happy. This means that by showing justice has an intrinsic value, it can also be concluded that it is better to live a just life opposed to an unjust life. The conclusion that I have drawn is that Plato’s argument against the intrinsic value of injustice is sufficient to prove that the just life is superior, even if the unjust life may be more profitable.
Contrastingly, Plato's "Republic" gives little or no consideration to the individuals interests. Plato believes that the republic trumps all, and basic human interests such as the desire to improve one's station in life is disregarded as unnatural or even the desire not to be lied to are not even worthy of consideration.
In book 7, the truth is hidden from the uneducated; when someone follows the path of the intellectual, they are able to see the world as an absolute truth. In the myth of Er, the truth is known by the judges in the afterlife, and will determine if one’s afterlife is painful or pleasant. The supernaturalistic theory is evident with the presence of the afterlife and how actions in life determine the fate of the soul. I believe in part Plato wrote the Republic to explain how education and truthfulness can lead to a better man and a better society. The name of “The Republic” further verifies the assumption. The main purpose of life and virtue is explained very well by Plato’s dialogue, where all people should “…be able to learn and may find someone who will make him able to learn and discern between good and evil, and so to choose always and everywhere the better life as he has opportunity” (pp. 27). In order to be an ethical and “good” person, one must have a sense of knowledge and the truth; with knowledge, one can be able to make decisions towards being a better
The Republic is an expansive work that touches on many areas of Plato's philosophy. And if we can understand it, we have moved a long way toward an understanding of Plato, who stands as one of the cornerstones of the Western philosophical tradition.
Socrates has, at this point, put the issue of justice to bed. However, Glaucon decides to challenge Socrates’s view and puts to him a few claims. He says that all good can split into three categories: the highest of the classes being things we want both for what we get from them and, for their own sake.
Book II opens with Socrates and Glaucon arguing about the definition of justice. Socrates is trying to persuade Glaucon and Adeimantus that it is better in every way to be just, rather than unjust. Glaucon argues that justice can belong to three different types of goods. The sort of good we choose to have for the purpose of joy. The type of good where we love something for what it is, while also loving it for its consequence, such as health (Plato and Reeve 302). Finally, the third type of good is when we love something only for the sake of its consequence, such as physical training. Socrates agrees that all three of these goods exist, but he only places justice in the second type of good, or that one must love something for its own sake and its consequence. However, Glaucon disagrees and says that the majority of people think that justice is not appreciated for itself, but only the consequences of justice.
and children, with all members of a society. In addressing the remaining possibilities, Aristotle questions if Plato was right in the Republic to
Throughout The Republic, Plato constructs an ideal community in the hopes of ultimately finding a just man. However, because Plato’s tenets focus almost exclusively on the community as a whole rather than the individual, he neglects to find a just man. For example, through Socrates, Plato comments, “our aim in founding the
In The Republic Plato constructs his argument through an analogy between a city and the soul on what justice means to him. The two main questions that drive the dialogue between philosophers are, “What is justice?” and “Is justice preferable to injustice?” Plato’s thesis of The Republic is that justice is about one’s inner harmony with the tripartite of the soul and this is seen through his analogy of the city. Instead of allowing equal value to each virtue, Plato makes the virtue of wisdom the most important, causing people who possess the other virtues seem less valuable. So there is a disparity in those getting privileges, which is unjust for people in the working class. Although Plato would counter that an Aristocracy society is the most just in providing all citizens with a function and being a part of a community that gives each person a purpose. Still, Plato’s argument fails to recognize an Aristocracy as a
Plato was a philosopher and educator in ancient Greece. He was one of the most important thinkers and writers in the history of Western culture. Plato was born in Athens into a family that was one of the oldest and most distinguished in the city. His father Ariston died when Plato was only a child. The name Plato was a nickname meaning broad shoulders. Plato's real name was Aristocles. Plato had aspirations of becoming a politician, however these hopes were destroyed when his friend Socrates was sentenced to death in 299 B.C. Extremely hurt Plato left Athens and traveled for several years. In 387 B.C., Plato returned to Athens and founded a school of philosophy and science that became known as the Academy. Topics such as astronomy, biological sciences, mathematics, and political science w...
Plato had always been worried about the basic philosophical problem of figuring out the art of knowing and living. His goal of the great dialogues was to show the relationship between the soul and the state. This is the compelling theme of the great dialogues; the Republic, Phaedo, Symposium, Phaedrus,and Philebus. In the Republic Plato shows how justice within the individual can best be realized through the likeliness of the operation of justice within the state. Plato continues to set out in his idea of the ideal state. But, he realizes that philosophically justice simply can’t be fully understood unless seen in a spectrum to the concept of the good, which is the supreme principle of order and truth. In the Republic, Plato shows how sometimes philosophy is like trying to look at both sides of a regular door, when maybe you should be trying to look at both sides of carousel swinging door.
Out of these works no other stand out as much as “The Republic”. The Republic, Plato’s most famous dialogue covers a lecture narrated by Socrates on the state of government in Greece. The dialogue covers two main questions, “What is the meaning of justice” and “Does Justice equal Happiness?” (Plato