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Study Questions on Plato's Republic (Fall 2016) Undergraduates
Prof. De Chiara-Quenzer (6 November 2016)
Dear Students,
To help you in your preparation for your exam on Wednesday on Plato's Republic,
I have created the following sample essay questions. These are not necessarily the
questions that will appear on the exam, although some of the questions on the
exam might be quite similar. If you use these sample essay questions, along with
all the study guides, and class notes to review the material for the exam, you will
be ready to respond to any question asked of you on the exam. Remember you will
also have some choices on the exam.
In Book 4 of the Republic, Socrates explains the four virtues in the ideal state.
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 Explain thoroughly each of these virtues, as they are present in the
state.
Courage as civic courage: The preservation of the beliefs that has been
operated by the city state
From upbringing and education, auxiliaries would absorb the laws in the finest
way possible so it is their role to ensure that citizens follow this law.
Wool analogy: wool has to be picked out first, the whitest one, than prepared in
various ways before dyeing purple to make sure color doesn’t wash out. (Wool
– auxiliaries, various ways – education/upbringing, purple – laws by rulers)
Courage for soldiers in battlefield: to not be scared of death because of
Hades, don’t be scared in the battle.
Wisdom: Having good judgment/reason on what is good or bad for the city, for
the city well being
Not any kind of knowledge produces wisdom, only certain kind. Example:
Farmers have knowledge to farm but it does not make them wise. Knowledge of
ruling
Rulers have to do what is best for the city internally and externally
Moderation: An order, the mastery of pleasure and pains
The agreement between what is naturally worse and better as to which of the
two is to rule both in city and individuals
This creates harmony as every class agrees on this despite gender, strength, etc
For craftsmen: to obey the rulers and the willingness to obey because in terms
of law, rulers have good judgment.
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4. Justice: doing one’s own work and not meddling with what is not one’s own
- No citizens should have what belongs to another or be deprived of what is his
own
- One should stick with his own class or crafts to ensure that there are more
plentiful and better quality goods, since everyone is not born alike, different in
nature with different tasks suiting different people.
- It is also injustice to meddle and exchange between classes, especially if
someone in craftsmen or auxiliaries becomes rulers.
 If you had to select one of them as the most important, above the others,
to provide for the well-being of the ideal state (the happiness of the ideal
state), that is, according to what Socrates' has been presenting as the
well-being of the ideal state, which one virtue would you choose? Give a
thorough defense of your choice. Give a thorough discussion of why you
did not choose each of the other virtues.
- Justice is the most important. Justice is what is possible for the other virtues of
wisdom, courage, and moderation to grow. Since classes are practicing justice,
the rulers can develop wisdom, while the auxiliaries can develop courage. If a
craftsmen goes to auxiliaries, there wont’ be courage in the auxiliary.
- Without justice, no courage and wisdom. City will be in chaos since no good
judgment, and no perseverance of the law so what follows is the lack of
moderation.
In Book 4 of the Republic, Socrates explains the four virtues in the soul of the
person.
 Explain thoroughly each of these virtues as they are present in the soul.
1. Wisdom in reason: To avoid internal threats from appetite and spirited. To
make good judgments/ decisions. Wisdom makes sure that the soul exercises
foresight on behalf of the soul
a. Reason: Forbids irrational appetitive part such as lust, hunger, and
thirst
2. Courage in spirited: To preserve the reasoning and withstanding good
decisions. Spirited part be attentive to appetite. Appetites are strong so get
them to focus on good and not rule the soul
a. Spirited: emotions such as anger, jealousy, sadness, passion, pleasure
3. Moderation: The agreement that the rational part is the ruler. Moderation is
experienced in every class.
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a. Appetitive: it is the nature of what one wants, what it is his will to
have
4. Justice: Each do its own functions.
a. Justice could also be the actions that the soul engages in. Allowing
appetite and spirited to be tamed will relate to just actions conduct by
ourselves.
i. Actions that are not licentious, stubborn, soft, slavish
 Explain the ways in which the practice of each of them contributes to
the well being of the person.
 If you had to select one of them as the most important, above the others,
to the development of a good soul, that is, according to what Socrates'
has been presenting as a good or virtuous human being, which one
virtue would you choose? Give a thorough defense of your choice. Give
a thorough discussion of why you did not choose each of the other
virtues.
- If spirited/appetite makes decision – no wisdom.
- If appetite is able to persevere the bad reasoning, no courage.
- Justice is needed to make sure the other virtues are functioning.
In the ideal state, Socrates argues that the rulers should be philosophers.
 Explain thoroughly the unique qualities that only philosophers possess
(that are not present in the other classes).
- Wisdom: Philosophers are lovers of learning: love the whole of it; love all kinds
of it, and all aspects.
- Fake philosophers are lovers of sights and lovers of sounds, but not true
philosophers because they are petty crafts. Not from the physical state but the
transcend world, which is unchanging.
- True philosophers are knowledgeable and not just full of opinable. So they are
capable of not seeing the beautiful things but for the beauty itself. They do not
only see just things but the just itself. They love and embrace the things that
knowledge is set over.
 Explain thoroughly why Socrates believes that these unique qualities
will make a ruler most effective as a ruler of the ideal state.
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- This is the only change needed to ensure the ideal state Socrates’ envision
happens. Political power and philosophy entirely coincides to ensure happiness
for public and private.
- They have good judgments because they know the actual knowledge of the
form in everything. Form: a type of thing you can know (Form does not need to
be tangible: i.e. truth, justice, etc)
- Knowledge requires understanding, and understanding is referred to the
goodness. The philosopher kings have wisdom as they have knowledge, rule is
justified.
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 Explain thoroughly the other important qualities Socrates believes the
ruler of the ideal state should have that will make him/her best
equipped to rule the ideal state. These will be qualities shared with at
least some of the other citizens in the ideal state.
Moderation
Justice
Correct upbringing and education, e.x. stories in children.
o No wailing and lamenting
o No violent laughter because it presupposes violent mood
o No lying, except if you are the ruler and its for the good of the city
o Don’t be money lovers or bribable with gifts.
When they were young they must be kept away from all crafts and focus on the
craft of warcrafts instead. One-person one craft.
No excessive pleasure (homosexuality)
Balance in physical training and music/poetry, both aim for the good of soul
o Avoid savagery and softness. To be courageous and orderly
Rulers are picked from the class of auxiliaries because they are knowledgeable,
capable, and caring for the city
Believes that the city is advantageous to oneself. Rulers must be strong-willed
to always believe that they must do what’s best for the city and cannot change
their belief voluntarily or involuntarily (persuaded or because of time).
No one should possess private property, share one housing, cannot handle gold
or gifts
No marriage, only attend festivals
 Here you are to evaluate the qualities that Socrates believes rulers
(philosopher-kinds) must have. Which do you think are the most
valuable or beneficial to the leader of the ideal state in order to lead the
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state well? Why? Which do think are unnecessary or disadvantageous
to the leader of the ideal state in order to lead it well? Why?
- Most valuable: there is a form for everything, so a form of how to rule
perfectly. The understanding of the form is truly what is unique to them. You
want them to make judgments.
- Unnecessary: the lack of private property, no marriage, can’t have material
goods. The rulers have the morale character already so these things might not
matter. No incentives.
- Communism: deprived of ownership of wife and children. This is
disadvantageous and not good for their spirit of love, which is not necessarily a
bad spirit that the reason need to hide.
 Now with each of the ideas you evaluated, you are to discuss them in
regard to The President of the United States today. Do you find Plato's
most valuable ideas likewise relevant or valuable to the good leadership
of the President of the United States? Why? Do you find the ideas you
deemed to be unnecessary or disadvantageous to the philosopher-king
similarly unnecessary or disadvantageous to the good leadership of the
President of the United States? Why?
- Some of his ideas are irrelevant. The US is democracy and builds on
progression, for the people based on the people’s ideas and interest. Judgments
are based on the citizens because they were the one who choose which kind of
judgments to rule over them. – that only rulers can make judgments because
they are wise, so they know the interest of the people and what is better for the
state. To think that people is homogenous with a single interest. More free will
now.
- Nonetheless, they still have to be wise. Do what is best for the city all the time.
- The one craft of ruling only since young is not applicable.
In Book II, Glaucon asked Socrates to establish what justice and injustice are
in the soul so that he (Glaucon) could be better convinced what were the
advantages and disadvantages of being just and unjust. In light of the
conversion in Books II -X, we come to see what justice and injustice are.
According to Socrates what are justice and injustice in the soul?
How does justice affect the overall well being of the soul?
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- Justice could also be the actions that the soul engages in. Allowing appetite and
spirited to be tamed will relate to just actions conduct by ourselves.
 Actions that are not licentious, stubborn, soft, slavish
How does injustice affect the overall well being of the soul?
- feeds the beast and lion to make it strong, starve the human and make it dragged
around.
- Wretched if enslaves the most divine part for temporary and short-lived
pleasure
o Intemperate, stubborn, softness, slavishness
- Perfectly unjust: by exterior might be worshiped, but internally is broken.
What does Socrates see as the advantages to having a just soul? What do you
think might be some of the disadvantages to having a just soul?
- Having a just soul means that each part of the soul does their own function.
Having reason the dominant part of the soul will avoid internal threats, as
Socrates worries that the greatest danger is from within.
- Appetite can be good appetites and reason need to enforce that. Good appetite
practiced through habit from upbringing.
- Don’t let spirit and appetite step out of boundaries and make decisions
- Disadvantage is that reason might be problematic at times if it does not listen to
spirited and appetite. They need to make judgments from the information.
- Unjust do get the advantage in terms of outcome or physically wise.
What are the ideas in the myth of Er that support Socrates's view that it is
better to be just than unjust?
- Afterlife: sent to Hades to be judged. Those who are judged as just will go to the
Aisle of the Blessed for 1000 years, while those who are judged as unjust will go to
Tartarus for 1000 years. Those who are deemed to be very unjust might not even
leave.
In the Myth of Er, Socrates's describes the choices made by the two types of
just souls for their next life on earth? What lesson/s are we to learn about
justice from this?
1. Conventionally just person. On Earth is just, but does not value justice as
itself but because of the fear of punishment. (Ring of Gyges – if no he has
the ability to be unseen, performs unjust actions).
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a. Afterlife: chooses a life with more rewards and less consequences –
the external benefits because they look attractive from a far, choosing
the life of a tyranny that is hard especially practicing virtue through
habit and not philosophy.
2. Just for the sake of itself and others (ex. Consequences)
a. Knows the correct combination of factors that will keep him just and
happy.
In Book V, Socrates explains how philosophers are different from lovers of
sights and sounds so that Glaucon and Adeimantus will not confuse
philosophers with lovers of sights and sounds.
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 Thoroughly explain what Socrates says is distinctive about philosophers
that distinguishes them from lovers of sights and sounds.
Fake philosophers are lovers of sights and lovers of sounds, but not true
philosophers because knowledge is unchanging but music/art have different
views towards it.
Lover of sight and sound only engages in opine on what is beautiful or not. It is
the intermediate of knowledge (what is) and ignorance (what is not). Opinion
could lead to false opinion, which is ignorance because you think you are right.
True philosophers are knowledgeable and not just full of opinable. So they are
capable of not seeing the beautiful things but for the beauty itself. They do not
only see just things but the just itself. They love and embrace the things that
knowledge is set over.
In a nutshell, lovers of sight and sound use the power of opinion to grasp that
which and which is not (opinable thing). Philosophers uses the power of
knowledge to grasp that which is (knowable thing)
Beautiful things and sound do participate in beauty itself, it is an attribution, but
there is another layer, which is the form of the good. This enables the power of
knowledge to grasp other aspects of beauty
Opinable is visible realm (images, visible objects), while knowable is
intelligible realm (hypotheses, forms).
Lovers of sight and sound have only opinions on images and objects because
these things are changing. They have the existence on being but not permanent.
 Explain why Glaucon and Adeimantus confused lovers of sights and
sounds with philosophers.
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- Both of them likes learning, but shallow. They only see the surface. For
example with sound, they only listen to everybody instead of understanding.
- They also don’t know the Transcend world. Both are lovers of learning but
different kind of learning. The philosophers love learning on objects that not in
this World.
In Book VI, Socrates presents, the analogy of the sun to the form of the good.
In light of that discussion, explain what the form of the good is, how it is
related to the other forms, and why it is relevant to Plato's view of the
knowledge of the philosopher.
- Sun is the form of the good. The eye is the mind (reason), sight is intelligence,
and light is the truth. Too see in the analogy is to know the intelligible realm.
Unless there is light, our eyes cannot see even with the power of sight. Sun is
neither the light nor the sight; it is their cause and something higher.
- The form of the good gives the truth to the form and the power of knowing to the
knower. They must exist for us to use our intelligence to grasp other forms.
In Book VII, one finds the famous allegory of the cave.
 You are to select four very significant and different ideas from the
allegory, and explain their meaning. It is essential that you select four
ideas that are substantially different from each other. If they are not
substantially different, then they will not be counted as part of your
answer. 1
- People are chained to look at a wall. Behind them is a fire and an elevated
walkway where puppeteers use objects to show shadows. They come to believe
that the objects are their reality. One of them becomes unchained and sees the
object. From images to visible objects.
- They come outside at the night and see the different objects and the moon and
come to hypotheses.
- At daylight, he finally comes to realize the true forms, through accepting them
by seeing that their shadows are just images. Finally, he can see the Sun, which
is the form of the good.
- Coming out from the cave to the outside can only be done by the rulers after
correct education. From the visible realm to the intelligible realm. Since he is a
rule, he feels obligated to tell all his friends back in the cave of his new
discovery because they also want them to be free from ignorance.
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- In the cave, he have to adjust his eyes again. His friends ignore and belittles
him. The people who are chained have false opinions. Thinks it’s reality and
have a distorted view of what is real (ex. Meno)
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 After you explain each idea as it appears in the allegory, then explain
where and how they are presented earlier in the Republic.
In the divided line: looking at the images as object means that you are the
chained one.
In the ideal state: everyone should be sufficiently educated, so no one is
chained.
Auxiliaries are those who are holding the puppets and try to preserve the laws
and beliefs. They try to make the people unchained by telling them they are
fake.
They want everyone to be unchained and have the same beliefs that the rulers
has established. Auxiliaries and craftsmen believes in the same law and should
have the same insights and opinions about the law. Only the virtues should be
different.
Plato and his vision of the ideal state.
 Select four of the most distinctive and essential ideas/features that are
part of Plato's ideal state. 2
- Specialization: Everyone can only do one craft  abundance and quality cause
by nature. (triparte of the state) The healthy one is no longer adequate so find
the need to expand, by auxiliaries. Finally rulers oversee.
- Picking the ruler: observed from childhood, set tasks that make them forget
conviction by deceiving. Set competitions in times of pain and pleasure to really
see how they react.
- Education system: stories and then physical education vs music poetry
o Changes in story concerns:
 Courage: don’t fear hades
 Lamenting and wailing: self-sufficient, keep strong and focused
in battlefield
 Violent laughter: no violent mood
 Truth and lying: destructive to a city
 Moderation: obey rules from wise rulers, ruling the pleasures
 Money and gifts: not easily bribed
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o Imitation narrative is dangerous because it can because it can settle
into habits
o Physical: courageous (opp: savage/ignorant), music/poetry: orderly
(opp: softness/quick-tempered if spirited)
o Noble Lie
 They were nurtured from the earth than delivered to the world
 Makes them fight for their land harder like their mother and
citizens like brothers
- Gender equality – women can be in any class, differences are inconsequential,
only nature is important, ex in auxiliaries there are many roles.
 With regard to each idea/feature, explain why Plato sees them as appropriate
or beneficial to the ideal state?
 Evaluate each of those ideas as it relates to living in a political state
today. Do you find Plato's idea to be relevant or insightful or valuable?
Why? Do you object to the idea? Why?
- gender equality: relevant  more options because what if they are the ruler that
is actually better. They fear that someone worse is ruling, but just because she is
a woman, then she cannot rule. There are a lot of female rulers, ex South Korea
president.
- Self contradictory and half communism. Ideal state is equality and justice, but
then again expounds communism, depriving two classes from private
ownership and natural family life. But, a class is free to do so, which is not
equal.
- Communism: deprived of ownership of wife and children. This is
disadvantageous and not good for their spirit of love, which is not necessarily a
bad spirit that the reason need to hide.
- Favors intelligence over characters. Expects someone interest to be fixed since
young.
- disadvantageous and not good for their spirit of love, which is not necessarily a
bad spirit that the reason need to hide.
- Valuable: Rulers should promote the well being of citizens instead for self.
Always view what you can do for the country instead of what the country can
do for you. Looks down on tyrants.
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- Valuable: the importance of education. No one is automatically privileged from
wealth, birth, or gender. Based on nature.
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For example, if you were to discuss justice (as it operates in the state) or the principle of one
person and one art as it is used in the ideal state, these overlap considerably so you would want
to consider them as the same significant idea for the purposes of this essay. Likewise if you
wanted to speak about Socrates' discussions on how visible and intelligible objects are both
different but also related to each other, you might want to draw from a number of passages in
Books V and VI (that we have covered), but the separate passages would not constitute separate
significant ideas.
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Some ideas overlap significantly. For example, censorship and lying and deception overlap
considerably, so think of them as one significant idea. In this way you will avoid giving a
narrow discussion of Plato's vision of the ideal state. Likewise, if you were to select the idea of
one person - one art, this would overlap considerably with his view of the virtue justice and parts
of the noble lie, so since these ideas overlap considerably, you want to treat them as one
significant idea in Plato's vision of the ideal state.