1. New Node
2. Thrasymachus claims that the stronger people in society put the norms or the ordinary people for the purpose of supporting and promoting them.
3. Page 7: In the Laws, Plato constructs another ideal state. The rule of law is of more value than the absolute authority.
3.1. Plato's later dialogues are complicated. They include his most complex philosophical and logical views.
3.1.1. Plato construction of another ideal state
3.1.1.1. Authoritarian state
3.1.1.2. He did not agree with Plato's ideology of republic.
4. .
4.1. New Node
5. Page 5 Just and in-just soul
5.1. Tyrants were the most unjust type of man and is ruled by his desire to fulufill the non-rational part. Injustice will torture a mans phsyce
5.2. A just soul will be happy, healthy and untroubled. "Justice is worthwhile for its own sake".
6. Plato was born in Athens in a wealthy aristocratic family in 428BC.
7. Socrates was his teacher, 30 years his senior
7.1. Socrates
8. Plato's primary objective in The Republic is to analyze and develop the idea of political justice, and then create a comparable idea of individual justice
9. In Books 2, 3, and 4, Plato identifies political justice as harmony in a structured political body.
9.1. Critical analysis - Is the analogy of a body to what politics realisitic? Are there better models?
10. Aporia
10.1. Importance: The people involved in the argument can go no further. They are at a loss of words and are in a state of helplessness
10.1.1. An example would be on such abstract nouns such as:
10.1.1.1. Justice
10.1.1.2. courage
10.1.1.3. Love
10.1.1.4. piety
10.1.2. Through his questioning, Socrates, lead the citizens of athens to an aporia thus proving that they really did not really know what the abstract nouns would mean even though they thought they knew a lot about them.
11. Page 1
11.1. The Republic Plato's most famous work. 32 books in all,
11.1.1. The entire book is here
11.1.1.1. The book influenced who?
11.2. End of Book 4 - Plato shows that individual justice mirrors political justice.
11.3. The soul of every individual has three parts, just like society. A society is one that has good relations between each of its three groups: the producers (just like the desire of an individual, located in the stomach), auxiliaries (just like the spirit in an individual, located in the heart), and guardians (just like reason in an individual, located in the brain). Each one is dependent on the other, just like how the desire, the spirit, and reason fit together. Justice, according to Plato, is the ability of a person to specialize in the societal area he/she was born in, without interfering with other areas.
11.3.1. The rational part of the soul: seeks truth and is responsible for philosophical ideas.
11.3.1.1. Plato claims that every other part of the soul wants to fulfil the desires of the rational part, as in a society, the lower two classes wish to fulfil the desires of the upper, ruling class.
11.3.1.2. Modern issue: What's likelihood of this becoming a democratically elected individual? Who was the last bow tie wearing president?
11.3.2. The spirited part of the soul: desires honor and is responsible for out feelings.
11.3.2.1. These people don't make the best leaders. For example, Saddam Hussein was a warrior, but not the best of leaders
11.3.3. The appetitive part of the soul: desires all sorts of things, mostly money (because money is used as a means to an end - to fulfill other desires).
11.3.4. These people don't make the best of leaders because creating a just society isn't the same as running a corporation.
11.4. The world is divided into two realms; the visible (grasped by our senses), and the intelligible (grasped only by our minds). The visible world makes the universe we see around us, while the intelligible world is made up of what Plato called the Forms; changeless absolutes such as Goodness, beauty, redness, and sweetness that exist in a permanent relationship with the visible realm and make that realm possible.
11.4.1. Example: an apple is red and sweet, therefore it participates in the Forms of redness and sweetness.
12. Page 2
12.1. The form of good is literally translated as the idea of good and the source of all other forms, just like how the sun is viewed by the visible realm; big and full of light, full of "goodness".
12.1.1. The Sun was used in a simile as the child of the form Good. The sun was described as the entity that makes physical objects visible and generates life on earth. This compares to how the form of the Good makes other universals intelligible, and also gives being to all the other Forms (knowledge, truth, beauty, etc). In the end, the form of the Good is higher than being
12.1.1.1. Motivated the Stylites
12.1.1.2. Justice is accompanied by true pleasure and a just life is the most pleasant because it involves grasping the ultimate goods (harmony and order). Justice is good because it is connected to the greatest good, the Form of good, plus its connected to the just life, establishing this intimate relationship between them.
12.1.1.2.1. Just and injust soul
12.1.1.2.2. Three main character types. Only the philosopher king can judge that each type has their own form of pleasure because he has experience in all three
12.1.1.2.3. Plato banned poets from his city because they encourage us to indulge in emotion and makes us unjust. Poets appeal to the soul of other people by imitating injust inclinations
12.1.2. The Forms include knowledge beauty (redness, goodness, sweetness) and truth.
13. Page 3
13.1. - born in Athens, 428 BC Father- last king of Athens Mother- Almost mythical Athenian lawgiver and author of the city's first constitution His brothers (Glaucon and Adeimantus) one of the main characters in the Republic. His father died during his childhood, so his mother remarried Pyrilampes.
13.1.1. Was politically active as a young intelectual man, had prospects in Athenian politics.
13.1.1.1. After the Peloponnesian war, an oligarchy took place which Plato disliked.
13.1.1.1.1. Socrates was his teacher
13.1.1.1.2. Assumption of power between the 400 and the 30
13.1.1.2. Two Major upheavals turned him from politics
13.1.1.2.1. Four Hundred
13.1.1.2.2. Thirty
14. Page 4
14.1. Aristotle attended the Academy
14.1.1. Almost had a philosophical king when Dion, the brother of the fathers heir, asked Plato to teach the heir
14.1.1.1. 2 political upheavals cast Greek values into question
14.1.1.1.1. Appearance of the Sophists. They focused on teaching rhetorical skills and believed in persuasiveness, which exploited uncertainty over traditional values. Believed that whether or not the action was right didn't matter. What was important was how it benefited you, which raised the question of the objective moral-what is right and wrong?
14.1.1.1.2. War between Athens and Sparta (431 to 404). Athens called for a new civic virtue, persuasive speaking >war skills
14.1.1.2. Philosophy originated from 6th century in Greek, island of Miletus
14.1.1.2.1. Poets used to address the values of the society. Ex) Hesiod encouraged good behavior for divine reward
15. Page 5
15.1. Socratic method
15.1.1. Plato's dialogues are classed into early, middle and late periods.
15.1.1.1. A typical early dialogue ends in a state of aporia
15.1.1.2. Socratic method of elenchus
16. Page 6
16.1. Finding a conclusion was not the goal of elenchus
16.1.1. Humans should engage in philosophical dialects.
16.1.1.1. Virtue
16.2. Socrates leads Plato's thoughts with the shaping of his philosophy.
16.2.1. He relies less on Elenchus
17. Page 10
17.1. The Allegory of The Cave
17.1.1. - Belief of life being split by a line with two equal halves.
17.1.1.1. Visible Realm
17.1.1.1.1. The process of grasping with our senses (mind). Prisoners bound in the cave are limited to the visible aspects of life. Therefore imagination is their evidence (crutches).
17.2. The Realms are what makes up reality.
18. Page 9:
18.1. The Sun, the Line and the Cave
18.1.1. The Philosopher Kings are the people who must come out of this "cave" (Allegory of the Cave) in order to understand reality.
18.1.2. The Philosopher Kings alone (once out of the "cave) are able to understand reality.
18.2. The principle of specialization - Each member of society must play the role for which his nature best suits him and not meddle in any other business.
18.2.1. People are born to specialize into 3 different classes
18.2.1.1. Class of Producers - They only worry about their businesses and not about the politics. They must obey all rules.
18.2.1.2. Class of warriors - Enforce and carry out all the orders of the rulers.
18.2.1.3. Class of Rulers - They make the rules and laws for everybody to follow.
18.2.1.4. Example - A farmer should stay as a farmer and not go into architecture
18.3. Plato's tripartite theory
18.3.1. The Appetitive Soul
18.3.1.1. This soul materialistic and seeks all worldly happiness
18.3.2. The Spirited Soul
18.3.2.1. This soul seeks for all the types of Honor
18.3.3. The Rational Soul
18.3.3.1. This soul seeks only for truth and knowledge
19. Page 8:
19.1. Thrasymachus (a Sophist) who viewed all actions as either advantageous or disadvantageous. "Justice is nothing but the advantage of the stronger."
19.1.1. Thrasymachus' ideas opposed to Socrates because Socrates believed that it is in the humans' interest to have laws and they are more than a mere convention
19.2. Sophists believed that the law of morality isn't important instead a person should try to get away with breaking a law if it is advantageous to them.
19.3. People in power are the people who can define Justice in a particular moment
20. Page 11.
20.1. Justice is Worthwile
20.1.1. Just action is good in itself (Intrinsically good)
20.1.1.1. It is good regardless of the advantages it confers
20.1.1.2. Plato wanted to prove that justice was a way of understanding the Form of Good and imitating it. By imitating the form we are leading our selves on for a calm, peaceful life.
20.1.2. We can see that it pays to be just when we look at tyrants; they act in unjust ways and always end up ruined. A just man is a serene man.
20.2. Book IX of the Republic
20.2.1. Only the Philosopher is capable of judging because he is able to experience all 3 types of pleasure from all the the 3 souls that are present in Man.
20.3. Plato compares the Form of Good to the sun.
20.3.1. The sun allows us to see things around us (gain empirical knowledge) and is responsible for change and the growth of life.
20.3.2. The Form of Good makes these things knowledgeable and have form.
21. Page 12
21.1. Appetite
21.1.1. largest aspect of our tripartite (consisting of 3 parts) soul
21.1.2. necessary desires
21.1.2.1. such as the desire to eat to stay alive
21.1.3. unecessary desires
21.1.3.1. having 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream after every meal
21.1.4. unlawful desires
21.1.4.1. the desire to eat one's children
21.1.4.1.1. MUST be suppressed NO MATTER WHAT
21.1.5. important: Plato: "in a balanced man, appetite is controlled by reason and spirit."
21.2. Auxillary
21.2.1. one of plato's 3 society classes
21.2.2. warriors
21.2.3. responsibilities:
21.2.3.1. -defending the city from invasion
21.2.3.2. enforce the laws of the guardians/philosopher kings
21.2.3.3. ensure that the producers obey the laws of the guardians
21.3. Belief
21.3.1. 2nd lowest grade of the cognitive activity*
21.3.1.1. *cognitive activity: understanding through thought processes, experiences, and the senses
21.3.2. the object of belief is visible and not mental
21.3.3. -a man in the state of belief: doesn't have access to "The Forms" (absolute idea behind the reality).
21.3.4. A man in the state of belief takes the sensible things as the most real
21.3.4.1. What are the links between this and life as a bat?
21.3.4.1.1. bats have a different way of sensing things around them, and therefore whether their reality is different than ours or not is the raised question
21.4. Elenchus
21.4.1. socrates' method of making the person he is talking to think that he/she is contradicting themselves.
21.4.2. result: this proves that the person socrates is talking to doesn't have knowledege about the topic
21.4.3. leads to aporia
21.5. Empirical
21.5.1. an empirical question is a question that requires you to out into the world and investigate.
21.5.1.1. example: what is the percentage of the kuwaiti population like chocolate ice cream?
21.5.1.1.1. Basically whenever you need statistical data
21.5.1.2. example of a non-empirical question: what is the square root of 25 plus 5?
21.5.1.2.1. This is true in all possible worlds
21.6. Epistemology
21.6.1. the philsophical branch which is concerned with knowledge, belief and thought
21.6.1.1. What is knowledge? How do we form beliefs based on evidence? Can we know anything?
21.7. Form
21.7.1. plato: "it's the world beyond what we can physically see"
21.7.2. Plato's world of ideas, where the "idea" of eveything exists.
21.7.3. absolute, unchanged entities
21.7.3.1. such as: beauty, redness, sweetness, goodness
21.7.4. This is the only thing we can actually KNOW about
22. Page 13
22.1. form of the good
22.1.1. it is the source of intelligibility and our abiltity to know
22.1.2. responsible for the existence of all the other forms
22.1.2.1. plato: "it is just like the sun to the visible world" (see page 11)
22.1.3. it is the object of knowledge
22.1.4. highest point of cognitive activity (understanding) >>> become a philosopher king
22.2. Guardian
22.2.1. one of plato's three society classes
22.2.2. responisbility: rule the city; in charge of law
22.2.3. chosen from the auxiliaries (warrior) class
22.2.4. aka philosopher kings
22.3. Hesiod
22.3.1. famous greek poet
22.3.2. wrote the poem "Works and Days"
22.3.2.1. the poem shows the greek view of virtue and justice
22.3.2.1.1. Which version of justice was this? The Greeks had differing opinions.
22.4. Imagination
22.4.1. lowest grade of the cognitive activity (does not give us a lot of true knowledge)
22.4.1.1. taking images and shadows from works of art like poetry, movies, and TV and believing that these images are real
22.5. instrumental reason
22.5.1. using reason to reach an end
22.5.1.1. Real life example
22.6. intelligible realm
22.6.1. consists of 'The Forms" (Plato's World of Ideas)
22.6.1.1. plato: "it is the only object of knowledge"
22.6.2. opposite to plato's visible realm
22.7. Kallipolis
22.7.1. Greek for plato's "just city"
22.8. knowledge
22.8.1. eternal, unchanging truth
22.8.1.1. intelligible realm
22.8.1.2. examples
22.8.1.2.1. I know 3 plus 4 is 7, because this is the case and it will never change
22.8.1.2.2. I cannot be sure that Meno is beautiful (people have different perceptions of beauty; this is why the validity of empiricism is debated)
22.9. metaphysics
22.9.1. philososphy branch that asks "what is there in the world"
22.9.2. aristotle: "the science of things transcending what is physical or natural"
22.9.2.1. time
22.9.2.2. space
22.9.2.3. identity
22.9.3. lover of sights and sounds
22.9.3.1. socrates's idea of people who claim to be experts at everything that is beautiful
22.9.3.1.1. they don't realize that there is a "form of beauty" that causes everything beautiful in the visible realm
22.9.3.1.2. cannot be considered philosophers. they only have opinions, and they lack knowledge
22.9.4. metaphysical theories:
22.9.4.1. the theory of forms
22.9.4.2. the theory of the tripartite soul
23. Page 14
23.1. Opinion
23.1.1. all the truths other than the eternal, unchanging truths are associated with.
23.1.2. highest form of certainty in the visible realml
23.2. Pleonexia
23.2.1. greek for "the desire to have more"
23.2.1.1. such as running after money and power
23.2.2. Thrasymachus said in his book: "justice is nothing more than natural pleonexia
23.3. Producers
23.3.1. The third and lowest class of the three classes of society. This class includes all other professions other than warriors and rulers. Plato states that in a just society, the producers have no share in ruling the state, and only obey what the rulers decree.
23.4. Reason
23.4.1. Reason is an aspect of our tripartite soul, as Plato describes it. Reason desires truth and it is the source of all of our philosophic desires. The entire soul is ruled by reason, and it strives to fulfill reason's desires.
23.5. Sophists
23.5.1. Teachers for hire that educated the wealthy men of Athens. They tended to share a disregard for the notion of objective truth and knowledge. They also disregarded the notion of objective moral truth, meaning they did not believe in "right" and "wrong.
23.6. Sensible particular
23.6.1. These are all the objects we experience around us. They are "sensible" because we can sense them. They are "particular" because they are specific items that undergo change over time, rather than universal, unchanging ideas.
23.7. Specialization
23.7.1. Every man must fulfil the role in which nature best fits them and not interfere with other things.
23.7.2. What they do best, such as those naturally suited to farm should farm, it will be the main source of political justice.
23.8. Spirit
23.8.1. It is one part of the tripartite soul (see pg15).
23.8.2. Spirit is what allows one's soul to achieve honor and love.
23.8.3. The spirit part of the human beings helps keep the appetite in control, since one needs a balance of all three (spirit, rational and appetite).
23.9. Thought
23.9.1. The mental process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought; which only comes with unproven assumptions.
23.10. philosopher king
23.10.1. ruler of the kallipolis
23.10.2. a.k.a guardians
23.10.3. since they are the only people who grasp "The Forms", they are the only ones who have full knowledge.
23.10.4. they are the most just people since they strive for truth more than anyone else
24. Page 15
24.1. Understanding
24.1.1. Highest form of knowledge.
24.1.1.1. Involves the use of pure, abstract reason. Does not rely on images and unproven assumptions.
24.2. Tripartite soul
24.2.1. Every human soul is composed of three parts:
24.2.1.1. the heart (spirited), the mind (rational) and the stomach (appetite)
24.2.1.1.1. Appetite – hungry after money Spirit – honor Rational – knowledge
24.2.2. There should be a balance between them to have individual justice.
24.3. Visible Realm
24.3.1. Existence divided into two realms
24.3.1.1. Visible Realm
24.3.1.1.1. This is the realm that we are able to grasp with our senses. Comprised of the world we see around us, full of sensible particulars. Objects in the visible realm are not as real as those in the intelligible realm, and the objects in the visible realm are objects of opinion.
24.3.1.2. Intelligible Realm