Plato_s_Republic - Overreach

8/11/2019 Plato_s_Republic - Overreach

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Platos Republic essay

Dr. Matthews

First Year Seminar-Pd. 1Platos Republicis a collection of dialoues between Socrates and other

!thenian men which ultimately attempts to define the true nature of "ustice and

in"ustice. Plato beins by presentin the popular beliefs and conceptions about

"ustice and in"ustice and se#uentially finds flaws in each arument presented. $he

first few sections try to pinpoint what e%actly "ustice is. &n the fourth section '()*e-

(+)c, $hrasymachus maes the arument that bein un"ust is more profitable than

bein "ust. $o this Socrates responds with three aruments/ first that the "ust man is

wise and ood and the un"ust man is e0il and inorant '()d-(+2d,3 second that

in"ustice creates di0isions and is unharmonious whereas "ustice is harmonious '(+2d-

(+4b,3 and third that "ustice is happiness and thus e%cellence and so is conduci0e to

profitability whereas in"ustice is the opposite '(+4b-(+)c,. 5sin the entirety of

these three aruments Plato discredits $hrasymachus arument and determines that

"ustice is more profitable than in"ustice. 6a0in lain to waste the common

conceptions of "ustice and in"ustice Plato proceeds to the creation of an ideal state in

an attempt to understand the oriins of "ustice and in"ustice.

Socrates beins his aruments in section four after determinin that

$hrasymachus attributes the characteristics such as bra0ery and honor to the un"ust

man as opposed to the "ust man. Socrates mo0es into his aruments with the premise

that 7the "ust does not desire more than his lie but more than his unlie whereas the

un"ust desires more than both his lie and unlie89()d:. $his conclusion maes

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sense loically accordin to a common mans e%perience and thus the arument

beins on a stron note.

Socrates ad0ances his arument usin three analoies. Socrates first uses the

analoy of a musician. Socrates establishes that a 7musician is wise and he who is

not a musician is foolish89()e:. $hen usin this premise Socrates ass whether in

performin the mundane tas of tunin a lyre a musician would want to surpass

another musician. Socrates maes it clear that a musician would ha0e no such desire3

his only desire would be to tune his instrument better than one who was not called a

musician. ! musician does not desire to surpass another musician in tunin a lyre

because to be i0en the title of musician one assumes basic sills such as the ability

to tune his own instrument.

Socrates ne%t employs the analoy of a physician #uicly establishin that a

physician would not want to be better at pro0idin medicine for ailments than

another physician but only better than one who is not a practicin physician. !ain

as with the musician once a person is called a physician he is e%pected to now how

to prescribe medicine and so there should be no desire to ain a better rasp of this

nowlede. ;ust as a person can either swim or not swim a physician can prescribe

medicine and a non-physician cannot.

$he final analoy that Socrates uses is one of nowledeable men and

inorant men. 6e concludes that a nowledeable man would not desire to e%ceed

another nowledeable man but only to e%ceed an inorant man. &f one is a

nowledeable man "ust as if he were a musician or a physician then it is assumed

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that he nows certain thins that are indisputable and so 7


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practicin the same type of medicine that they practiced in ancient >reece. $here is a

le0el of e%cellence that all people who claim mastery of a "ob must ha0e such as

how to tune your instrument or dianose diseases. Yet mastery does not mean that a

musician cant impro0e since he cannot achie0e absolute perfection. $he

instruments that we use today are not the same as those used in ancient >reece and

this is because althouh a musician or instrument maer new how to mae the old

instruments he desired to impro0e them. $hus he attempted to surpass his lie in

order to impro0e musicianship as a whole. &t is throuh this constant desire to

impro0e and thus e%ceed ones lie that instruments e0ol0ed to what they are today.

Despite the >rees belief that time was circular and that there could be no proress

in the linear sense there is a cycle to time nonetheless and thus at some point there

must be proress towards the most perfect portion of the cycle as well as a retreat

from this principle as well.

$he same is true for physicians. &f desirin to surpass another doctor were not

a human trait then we would continue to practice medicine in the same way the

ancients did. $his is ob0iously not the case. ?specially in the case of a physician it

maes perfect sense to constantly see impro0ement in ones methods for the

physicians "ob is to eep his fellow humans healthy. &n the circular sense of time

our modern world is mo0in towards the perfection of medicine. ?0en thouh these

proressions in each trade are destined by the repeatin cycles nonetheless at some

point one physician must surpass another in order for the whole profession to mo0e

forward. &t is also ine0itable that at some point medicine will diress.

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Socrates arument about a nowledeable man is especially hard to accept.

@nowlede is definitely not absolute. $herefore how could one whose profession it

is to be nowledeable not desire to increase the breadth of his nowledeA &f so

then one would desire to surpass both those who are nowledeable and those who

are inorant.

!bsolute nowlede is somethin as Plato maes clear in his Phaedrus,that

humans are hard-pressed to attain. Bbtainin absolute nowlede taes a charioteer

who is able to balance the noble and inoble horse and thus is an incredibly hard

tas to achie0e. &f the absolute nowlede of the hiher realm is realiCed it follows

that one would no loner see to e%ceed another of his lie for there would be no

more nowlede to be ained. &f this absolute nowlede is the criteria by which a

man is considered nowledeable then Socrates arument holds but lienin it to a

"ust man does not follow. ! "ust man does not ha0e to be one who has absolute

nowlede but rather the nowlede specific to their trade if "ustice is understood as

Plato defines it 7"ustice will be admitted to be the ha0in and doin what is a

mans own and belons to him89)()a:. $hus absolute nowlede cannot be a

prere#uisite to bein a "ust man or a nowledeable man and because this is so a

nowledeable man will desire to e%ceed his lie for there is still more to be learned.

$he same can be said of nowlede as with the physician and musician that we are

either mo0in towards perfection or not in the cycle of nowlede ordained by

circular time. Ee0ertheless at one point or another there must be forward motion and

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the propaation of the forward motion is dependent upon the surpassin of e#uals in

each field.

!lthouh these last points must be considered Platos oriinal arument

cannot be discounted either. &n section three $hrasymachus maes clear his

definition of perfection. 6e maes the distinction that one is not always a physician

or ruler only when he is perfect is he a man of his trade 7they none of them err

unless their sill fails them and then they cease to be silled artists. Eo artist or sae

or ruler errs at the time when he is what his name implies89()2e:. $hus unless a

musician or physician or man of nowlede is perfect at his trade he is not a man of

his trade and so my pre0iously ad0anced arument no loner holds. &n so lon as a

physician is a physician and is perfect there is nowhere for him to proress to and no

room to desire more than his lie. $his definition of perfection contained within the

te%t is testament to the e%tent to which Plato made sure to co0er e0ery possible

counter-arument before ad0ancin his own aruments. $o thorouhly pro0ide a

counter arument that would discredit the wor of Plato would tae lon and

scrupulous dissection of the te%t in its entirety to ensure that Plato had not addressed

the issue in another section3 a feat which the timeline for this essay does not allow

not to mention the fact that we ha0e not read the full te%t of the Republic. $hus the

arument of the father of western thouht remains triumphant.

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