Plato’s Republic
Editions and Documentation
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http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfi
le=show.php%3Ftitle=767&chapter=93807&layout=h
tml&Itemid=27
Marked with section numbers and brief summary on
the right.
The edition we adopted has recordings online
http://www.archive.org/details/platos_republic_0902_
librivox1 for recordings.
Listen to the recording at least once.
A Prologue to the whole book
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Book I is a “prologue.” As it introduces the reader to
the characters of the dialogue, it establishes the
basic questions of the Republic: What is justice, and
why should someone prefer to be just rather than
unjust? Most important, it acquaints us with both the
person and the method of the philosopher Socrates.
Prologue
1. a preliminary discourse; a preface or introductory
part of a discourse, poem, or novel.
2. an introductory speech, often in verse, calling
attention to the theme of a play.
Prologue vs. epilogue; prelude vs. coda in music
Prologue vs. Epilogue
synonyms vs. antonyms
a great way to expand vocabulary
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Prologue--a preliminary
discourse; a preface or
introductory part of a
discourse, poem, or
novel; an introductory
speech, often in verse,
calling attention to the
theme of a play.
Highlight the word
prologue and right click
to see synonyms!
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Epilogue--1. a
concluding part
added to a literary
work, as a novel.
2. a speech, usually
in verse, delivered
by one of the actors
after the conclusion
of a play.
The Setting
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The setting is the Piraeus, the port of Athens,
somewhere around 410.
A. The Piraeus was a stronghold of the democratic
opposition to Tyranny.
B. The setting already suggests a major issue of the
dialogue: Is democracy worth fighting for, even dying
for?
C. Because it is a seaport, the Piraeus is filled with
foreigners. It thus raises a second basic question: Is
diversity a desirable quality of a city?
The first dialogue is between
Socrates and Cephalus (328d−331d)
page 4 in the course reader
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A. Cephalus warmly greets Socrates.
B. Socrates responds (rather rudely) by asking him what it is like to
be old and near death. He also asks him what is the best thing about
being rich.
C. Cephalus says he does not mind being old. The erotic madness of
youth has passed.
D. Cephalus is not afraid of death, because he has always told the
truth and paid back his debts.
E. From these casual remarks, Socrates extracts a definition of
justice from Cephalus. It is, he says, telling “the truth and giving
back what a man has taken from another” (331c).
F. Socrates then refutes this definition of justice with a counterexample. If you borrowed a knife from a friend and the friend became
insane, it would not be just to return the knife to him or to tell him the
truth. (Socrates pushes the limit here)
G. The key question that emerges is: What is justice itself? This will be
Socrates as a Gadfly
Ethos of his community
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perhaps the most historically accurate of Socrates' offenses to
the city was his position as a social and moral critic. Rather
than upholding a status quo and accepting the development of
what he perceived as immorality within his region, Socrates
questioned the collective notion of "might makes right" that he
felt was common in Greece during this period. Plato refers to
Socrates as the "gadfly" of the state (as the gadfly stings the
horse into action, so Socrates stung various Athenians), insofar
as he irritated some people with considerations of justice and
the pursuit of goodness. His attempts to improve the Athenians'
sense of justice may have been the source of his execution.
Greece was in trouble: internal—with Sparta (Civil War);
external—with Persians (against outside invasion);
Socrates and Polemarchus
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The second dialogue is between Socrates and
Polemarchus (331d−336a).
A. Polemarchus rescues his father from Socrates’s
refutation.
B. Cephalus leaves (with a smile on his face) to
perform some religious rituals: He is not a
philosopher.
C. Polemarchus proposes that “it is just to give
back what is owed,” which he then amends to “give
to everyone what is fitting” (332b). Socrates refutes
this definition.
Thrasymachus’ Relativism
What’s problem with relativism?
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The central debate of Book I takes place between
Socrates and Thrasymachus, who is a Sophist.
Thrasymachus teaches rhetoric, and he is a
relativist. His definition of justice is “the
advantage of the stronger” (338c), by which he
means justice is determined by the ruling body. For
example, in a monarchy, what is advantageous to a
king would be counted as just. In a democracy,
whose name literally means “rule by the people,”
what is advantageous to the majority is just.
There is no absolute, universal, or objective
definition of justice. What is counted as just varies
from regime to regime.
Sophist
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1. ( often initial capital letter ) Greek History .
a. any of a class of professional teachers in ancient
Greece who gave instruction in various fields, as in
general culture, rhetoric, politics, or disputation.
b. a person belonging to this class at a later period
who, while professing to teach skill in reasoning,
concerned himself with ingenuity and specious
effectiveness rather than soundness of argument.
2. a person who reasons adroitly and speciously
rather than soundly.
Relativism
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noun
Philosophy . any theory holding that
criteria of judgment are relative, varying
with individuals and their environments.
Tyranny of the Majority
John Stuart Mill
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The phrase "tyranny of the majority"
originates with Alexis de Tocqueville in his
Democracy in America, where it is the name
of an entire section (1835, 1840) and was
further popularized by John Stuart Mill, who
cites de Tocqueville, in On Liberty (1859).
A straw man
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A straw man is a component of an argument
and is an informal fallacy based on
misrepresentation of an opponent's position.
To "attack a straw man" is to create the
illusion of having refuted a proposition by
replacing it with a superficially similar yet unequivalent proposition (the "straw man"), and
refuting it, without ever having actually
refuted the original position.
Thrasymachus’
definition of justice
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Thrasymachus, a Sophist, enters the scene. He
defines justice as “the advantage of the stronger”
(338c).
A. Justice is whatever is advantageous to the ruler.
B. In a democracy, justice is whatever is
advantageous to the people.
C. There is no absolute definition of justice; it is
relative to the regime.
D. Rhetoric is often defined as the art of persuasion
and goes hand in hand with relativism.
Socrates’ Refutation
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Socrates refutes Thrasymachus (339a–340a). His
first argument against the Sophist is the following:
A. Thrasymachus believes that it is just to obey all
laws.
B. He agrees that sometimes rulers make mistakes.
C. A mistaken law is one that is not advantageous to
the ruler.
D. Because Thrasymachus has agreed that it is just
to obey all the laws, he is committed to saying that it
is sometimes just to obey laws that are
disadvantageous to the ruler.
E. Thrasymachus has contradicted himself: Justice
Cleitophon’s Revision
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Cleitophon offers his assistance: Justice, he
proposes, “is what the stronger believes to be his
advantage” (340b). – a more subjective view
This is a significant revision of Thrasymachus’s
position, because it eliminates the possibility of
making mistakes. Cleitophon is a radical relativist.
Thrasymachus rejects Cleitophon’s suggestion
because he thinks the ruler is like a “craftsman”
(340e) who has real knowledge. (The Greek word
for “craft” is technê, which can also be translated as
“art.”)
Socrates presents a second
refutation of Thrasymachus
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Socrates presents a second refutation of
Thrasymachus (341c–342e).
A. The ruler is like a craftsman. He has a technê, a
“craft” or an “art.”
• B. All craftsmen are directed toward and seek the
advantage of the object of their craft.
• 1. The doctor cares for the sick.
• 2. The pilot cares for the sailors.
• 3. Therefore, all craftsmen are “naturally
directed toward seeking and providing for the
advantage” (341d) of the object of their technê,
not themselves!
Injustice is superior to justice
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Thrasymachus changes his position: Injustice
is superior to justice. It is more powerful than
justice. Being unjust is the way to bring
advantage to oneself. (See 344c.)
A. This a radical challenge to the goodness
of justice.
B. It raises a fundamental question: Why be
just when, if you are unjust, you can benefit
yourself? What is the value of justice?
The third refutation of
Thrasymachus
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Socrates presents a third refutation of Thrasymachus
(345e–346e).
A. Ruling is like a craft or an art (technê).
B. Craftsmen receive wages for their work.
C. This implies that their work is not simply for their
own advantage; they demand wages in order to be
rewarded for their work. No art generates its own
advantage. (See 346e.)
D. Rulers receive wages.
E. Therefore, ruling benefits those who are ruled, not
the rulers.
Hint on your summary
http://www.archive.org/details/platos_republi
c_0902_librivox1 for recording
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At the Narrative Level: Use the Six W’s to
contextualize the text and to orient
yourselves.
The first half of page 1 offers such
information as the themes of the dialogue,
and participants.
Write your summary here:
Contextual Information
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When Book I opens, Socrates is returning
home from a religious festival with his young
friend Glaucon, one of Plato’s brothers.
Ironic situation:
A torch-race on horseback in honor of the
goddess;
Why is it a novelty?
What’s so dangerous?
Got Waylaid (page 1)
by force (of the stronger)
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On the road, Socrates and his companions are
waylaid by Adeimantus, another brother of Plato,
and the young nobleman Polemarchus, who
convinces them to take a detour to his house.
There they join Polemarchus’s aging father
Cephalus, and others. Socrates and the elderly man
begin a discussion on the merits of old age. This
discussion quickly turns to the subject of justice.
“And are you stronger than all these? for if not, you
will have to remain where you are” (Course Reader
1). Playful but heavy-handed.
Conversation & Journey (2)
Reason by analogy
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“… the more the pleasures of the body fade
away, the greater to me is the pleasure and
charm of conversation.”
“I replied: There is nothing which for my part I
like better, Cephalus, than conversing with
aged men; for I regard them as travelers
who have gone a journey which I too may
have to go, and of whom I ought to enquire,
whether the way is smooth and easy, or
rugged and difficult” (2).
Metaphor (page 2)
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Men of my age flock together; we are birds of
a feather. (the subject/the predicate)
The curtain of night fell on somewhere.
Midnight 《子夜》 is a novel written by Mao
Dun published in 1933. The title refers to the
political situation in China, the darkest
moment in history.
Patrimony (page 3)
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noun, plural -nies.
1. an estate inherited from one's father or
ancestors.
2. any quality, characteristic, etc., that is
inherited; heritage.
3. the aggregate of one's property.
4. the estate or endowment of a church,
religious house, etc.
Reason by analogy
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… “the makers of fortunes have a second
love of money as a creation of their own,
resembling the affection of authors for their
own poems, or of parents for their children,
besides that natural love of it for the sake of
use and profit which is common to them and
all men” (3).
Old age, wealth, reflection
such topics lead to justice
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“… when a man thinks himself to be near death,
fears and cares enter into his mind which he never
had before; the tales of a world below and the
punishment which is exacted there of deeds done
here were once a laughing matter to him, but now he
is tormented with the thought that they may be true:
either from the weakness of age, or because he is
now drawing nearer to that other place, he has a
clearer view of these things; suspicions and alarms
crowd thickly upon him, and he begins to reflect and
consider what wrongs he has done to others” (3).
What is justice? (4)
Restorative Justice
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Simonides (a minor Greek poet): Speak the
truth and pay your debt;
Justice is to return what is due;
Socrates’ challenge: Justice is more than just
return what is due.
Cephalus vs. Socrates
Contradict by shifting to another context
or extending to another scenario
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Cephalus, a rich, well-respected elder of the city, and host to
the group, is the first to offer a definition of justice. Cephalus
acts as spokesman for the Greek tradition. His definition of
justice is an attempt to articulate the basic Hesiodic conception:
that justice means living up to your legal obligations and being
honest.
Socrates defeats this formulation with a counterexample:
returning a weapon to a madman, better yet, to a murderer!.
You owe the madman his weapon in some sense if it belongs to
him legally, and yet this would be an unjust act, since it would
jeopardize the lives of others. So it cannot be the case that
justice is nothing more than honoring legal obligations and
being honest.
Socrates shifted a concept
Reason vs. Fallacy
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To return what you
own to someone;
This falls into
restorative justice;
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To return a weapon to a
murderer is a different
situation;
Socrates did not offer
the scenario how we
got this weapon from
the murderer in the first
place. After the
murder, the murderer is
no longer entitled to his
weapon. The law will
override his ownership
of the weapon.
Justice is to do good to a friend,
evil to an enemy. (page 5)
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Says Polemarchus quoting Siꞌmonides,
556?–468? b.c., Greek poet: justice is the
art that gives good to a friend, evil to an
enemy. (challenge this definition)
Reason by analogy:
Physician/pilot/
Greek Traditional View of Justice
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Traditionally, the Greek conception of justice
came from poets like Hesiod, who in Works
and Days presents justice as a certain set of
acts that must be followed. The reason for
being just, as presented by the traditional
view, was consideration of reward and
punishment: Zeus rewards those who are
good and punishes those who are bad.
Should we harm our enemies?
What if we are on the wrong side of history?
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Socrates reveals many inconsistencies in this
view. He points out that, because our
judgment concerning friends and enemies is
fallible, this credo will lead us to harm the
good and help the bad. We are not always
friends with the most virtuous individuals, nor
are our enemies always the scum of society.
Socrates points out that there is something
incoherent in the idea of harming
someone (even if our enemy) through
justice.
If we are ignorant of human nature,
can we tell who are our friends and
who are our enemies?
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“But see the consequence: --Many a man
who is ignorant of human nature has friends
who are bad friends, and in that case he
ought to do harm to them; and he has good
enemies whom he ought to benefit” (8).
Stiff application (paralysis in James Joyce’s
words) of the rule that we should do good to
our friends and do harm to our enemies
could be consequential.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?sear
ch=Exodus+21&version=NIV
in the Old Testament
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New International Version: eye for eye, tooth
for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for
burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise
(Exodus 21).
King James Version: Eye for eye, tooth for
tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Burning for
burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
How to react to violence?
How to right a wrong?
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What is the logical consequence if
responding to violence with violence?
Two wrongs won’t make it right.
Review Jesus’ teaching in the New
Testament:
[38] Ye have heard that it hath been said, An
eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: [39]
But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but
whosoever shall smite thee on thy right
cheek, turn to him the other also. (Mathew 5)
Justice (utilitarian view 6-7)
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Socrates: You think that justice may be of use in
peace as well as in war?
Is justice something that is useful? If it is, it is useful
always for something else. Then the definition is
shifted to something external.
Justice has its criteria, independent of utilities.
Autonomous vs. heteronomous
Heteronomy: the condition of being under the
domination of an outside authority, either human or
divine.
Autonomy: freedom, independence, free of external
influences, out of your own free will, your own
By shifting terms,
Socrates led us to such a definition:
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Now justice seems an art of theft! (7)
By adding words, by shifting contexts;
Look for inconsistencies and contradictions;
Real vs. seeming
real vs. appearance
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Plato talks so much
on the distinction
between the real
and appearance.
This has something
to do with his
insistence on
seeking the truth.
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Seeming: in
appearance but not
necessarily in
actuality: with
seemingly effortless
ease
Allusion to Homer (7)
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Auꞌtolycus, the maternal father of
Odysseus. Classical Mythology: a thief,
the son of Hermes and Chione, and the
grandfather of Odysseus. He possessed
the power of changing the shape of
whatever he stole and of making it and
himself invisible as if he wore a magic
ring.
Utilitarianism is a form of Consequentialism
Should we Do the right things in the wrong way?
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Justice is an art of theft to be used for the good of
friends and for the harm of enemies. (7)
Meaning is determined by consequences.
Deng Xiaoping (1904 – 1997): It doesn’t matter
whether it is a white cat or a black cat; as long as it
catches rats, it is a good cat.
It doesn’t matter how rats are caught.
British--Taking over Hong Kong as a result of the first
Opium War in 1939.
Does it matter if the means by which a goal is
accomplished is not ethical?
Intentionalism
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Irony:
A surgeon wanted to save a patient; but the patient
died on the operation table;
Unintended consequences
Premeditated murder is the crime of wrongfully
causing the death of another human being (also
known as murder) after rationally considering the
timing or method of doing so, in order to either
increase the likelihood of success, or to evade
detection or apprehension.
Sillybillies (page 9)
a name for someone, especially a child, who
is behaving in a silly way
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Silly Billy was a type of clown common at fairs in
England during the 19th century. They were also
common in London as a street entertainer, along
with the similar clown Billy Barlow. The act included
playing the part of a fool or idiot, impersonating a
child and singing comic songs.
The name is popular because of its nice rhyme and
was used as a generic nickname for foolish people,
especially those named William such as Prince
William Frederick and King William IV.
Making Concessions
Rhetorical Function
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“Polemarchus and I may have been guilty of
a little mistake in the argument, but I can
assure you that the error was not intentional”
(9).
Granted…; however…
It is true that…; however…
Make a little turn, as a little creek is trying to
gather more water so that later it will rush
forward with greater momentum…
Interdict 10
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noun
1. Civil Law . any prohibitory act or decree of a court or an
administrative officer.
2. Roman Catholic Church . a punishment by which the faithful,
remaining in communion with the church, are forbidden certain
sacraments and prohibited from participation in certain sacred acts.
3. Roman Law . a general or special order of the Roman praetor
forbidding or commanding an act, especially in cases involving
disputed possession.
verb (used with object)
4. to forbid; prohibit.
5. Ecclesiastical . to cut off authoritatively from certain ecclesiastical
functions and privileges.
6. to impede by steady bombardment: Constant air attacks interdicted
the enemy's advance.
Thrasymachus’ definition of
justice (11)
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Listen, then, he said; I proclaim that justice
is nothing else than the interest of the
stronger.
Analysis is to take things apart.
For Thrasymachus, justice is tied to interest
on the one hand; and to the stronger on the
other.
Political power grows out of the barrel of a
gun ... Mao Zedong (1893 – 1976)
Forms of Government (11)
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Tyrannies
Democracies
Aristocracies--Origin:
1555–65; (< Middle French aristocratie ) <
Medieval Latin aristocracia (variant of -tia ) <
Greek aristokratía rule of the best.
See more on the topic, read Republic VIII.
http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html
Translated by Benjamin Jowett (1817 –
1893)
I ask no quarter at your hand (13)
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Quarter: mercy or pity, as shown to a
defeated opponent (esp. in the phrases ask
for or give quarter )
Metonymy—associative in nature
One thing for another
"Hollywood" for American cinema,
Whitehouse for the government;
I am all ears.
Thrasymachus’ fallacy 16
Something that prevails must be right!
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Thrasymachus cited
so many pieces of
empirical evidence
to support that
justice is the interest
of the stronger.
Reflect on the
limitations of
Empiricism!
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But all this is
reversed in the case
of the unjust man. I
am speaking, as
before, of injustice
on a large scale in
which the
advantage of the
unjust is more
apparent;
Page 19
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Thrasymachus says that the life of the unjust
is more advantageous than that of the just,
Tied to benefits/interests
Warranted by the large number;
Everywhere…
But it doesn’t necessarily mean it is right.
Socrates: Justice is harmony 23
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And this is because injustice creates divisions and
hatreds and fighting, and justice imparts harmony
and friendship; is not that true, Thrasymachus?
And is not injustice equally fatal when existing in a
single person; in the first place rendering him
incapable of action because he is not at unity with
himself, and in the second place making him an
enemy to himself and the just? Is not that true,
Thrasymachus?
Persons in the dialogue
Glaucon & Adeiꞌmantus
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Glaucon (Greek:
Γλαύκων; born circa
445 BC) son of Ariston,
was the philosopher
Plato's older brother.
He is primarily known
as a major conversant
with Socrates in
Republic, and the
interlocutor during the
Allegory of the Cave.
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Plato's eldest brother.
Adeimantus plays an
important part in The
Republic and is briefly
mentioned in The
Apology and the
Parmenides. In The
Republic, Adeimantus
is noted for his concern
for education
Persons in the Dialogue
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Polemarchus, an Aꞌthenian philosopher. Plato's
Republic is set at Polemarchus' house in the
Piraeus, a seaport that was located next to their
shield manufacturing store that employed 120 skilled
slaves.
Cephalus, son of Lysanias from Syracuse (5th
c.BC), a wealthy metic and elderly arms
manufacturer living in Athens who engages in
dialogue with Socrates in Plato's Republic. He was
the father of orator Lysias, philosopher Polemarchus
and Euthydemus.
Persons in the Dialogue
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Thrasymachus (Θρασύμαχος) (ca. 459-400
BCE) was a sophist of Ancient Greece best
known as a character in Plato's Republic.
"Thus, Socrates, injustice on a sufficiently
large scale is a stronger, freer, and a more
masterful thing than justice, and, as I said in
the beginning, it is the advantage of the
stronger that is the just, while the unjust is
what profits man's self and is for his
advantage.”
Persons in the Dialogue
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Cleitophon is a character in the Republic who
agrees with Thrasymachus’ assertion that “justice is
the interest of the stronger” (Course Reader 12).
When this assertion is challenged with the notion
that perhaps the stronger does not know what is in
his best interest, Thrasymachus and Cleitophon
diverge. Thrasymachus asserts that he who is truly
strong must know what is best; Cleitophon solves the
problem by saying that justice is merely following the
will of the stronger in all cases.
Setting: Piꞌraeus
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a seaport in SE Greece: the port of Athens.
186,223.
Plato opens his Republic with the words, “I
went down to the Piraeus yesterday.” The
first verb is “kataben,” from “katabaino,”
meaning “I went down,” the same verb that is
so prevalent in Book 11 of the Odyssey, in
which Odysseus offers his blood and
descends into the underworld.
Thracians
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The ancient Thracians (Ancient Greek:
Θρᾷκες, Latin: Thraci) were a group of
Indo-European tribes inhabiting areas
including Thrace in Southeastern
Europe.
of or pertaining to Thrace or its
inhabitants.
Reason by Analogy
it is interdisciplinary in nature
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Moving from one context to another
context;
If something holds true in one context,
but not true in another context, then it is
not universal.
Reason by analogy is a way to test if a
theory/claim holds water or not.
The Law of Contradiction

In classical logic, the law of noncontradiction (LNC) (or the principle of
non-contradiction (PNC), or the principle
of contradiction) is the second of the socalled three classic laws of thought. It states
that contradictory statements cannot both at
the same time be true, e.g. the two
propositions "A is B" and "A is not B" are
mutually exclusive.
Justice & Interest
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“… and as the government must be
supposed to have power, the only
reasonable conclusion is, that everywhere
there is one principle of justice, which is the
interest of the stronger” (11).
Here Thrasymachus associated justice with
interest, and interest are translated into
benefits.
Aporia 疑难
In Plato’s early dialogues, aporia
usually spells the end
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1. Rhetoric . the expression of a simulated or
real doubt, as about where to begin or what
to do or say.
2. Logic, Philosophy . a difficulty encountered
in establishing the theoretical truth of a
proposition, created by the presence of
evidence both for and against it.