PLATO THE REPUBLIC BOOK 7 (514a-521d) - book 6, Socrates ...
PLATO THE REPUBLIC BOOK 7 (514a-521d) -
book 6, Socrates provides the great metaphor of the allegory of the cave metaphor explains the effects of education on the human soul; it brings the philosopher through various stages, ultimately to the Form of the Good
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Socrates describes a dark scene. A group of people have lived in a deep cave since birth, never seeing the light of day. These people are bound so that they cannot look to either side or behind them, but only straight ahead. Behind them is a fire, and behind the fire is a partial wall. On top of the wall are various statues, which are manipulated by another group of people, lying out of sight behind the partial wall. Because of the fire, the statues cast shadows across the wall that the prisoners are facing.
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The prisoners watch the stories that these shadows play out, and because these shadows are all they ever get to see, they believe them to be the most real things in the world. When they talk to one another about “men,” “women,” “trees,” or “horses,” they are referring to these shadows. These prisoners represent the lowest stage on the line—imagination. End of book 7, p539 talks about the politics of the city; the amount of time one should spend in the political realm (15 years); the duty of politicians to serve knowledge to the people/those unaware of political realm why must the Kalop go through the stages (oligarchy, democracy, tyranny, etc). p 546 - why does the book end with the myth of earth plato has set himself up with a great problem and the myth is a great solution to this problemproblem: justice cant exist in the material realm, there has to be something permanent in the just realm the form of the truths sets up this permanent realm
PLATO THE REPUBLIC BOOK 8 - 437a-437b important note - Socrates says that along with the philosopher-king who symbolizes and embodies, and rules the just city, there are four other city-individual pairs timocracy; the honour-driven man who also embodies such a government; the oligarchy which resembles and is ruled by a man driven by appetitive nature; democracy which resembles and is ruled by a man driven by unnecessary appetites; and finally tyranny which resembles and is ruled by a man driven by unjust desires - the constitutional order goes from best to worst (tyranny being at the end) - these represent different eras and stages that the just city will go through eventually - Because the rulers of the just city will rely on their fallible sense perception in choosing the next generation of rulers, they will inevitably make mistakes
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over time. Soon the wrong sort of people will occupy positions of power. These people will want to change things so that rulers can have private property and focus on wealth, while the good among the rulers will want to preserve the old order and focus on virtue. The rulers will claim all the property in the city as their own, and make producers into serfs a sort of class war will emerge these rulers would choose to have rulers with more of an interest in war then peace; simpleness; and passion for victory the following philosopher-king will be a man driven by honour and spirit (Timocracy) (father’s side is rational soul, mother’s side is more money loving = contains both personalities [proud-honour loving) next ruler is an oligarch: whose ruling is based entirely on wealth only those with wealth and property will have a say in governmental discussion faults in this city: unfit rulers, and a make up of 2 cities within one (poor and rich), the classes will always be plotting against each other, the city would not be fit for fighting a war because giving arms to the people would only fire back since the ruling regime does not value the likes of the people, lastly there is no specializations
book 6, Socrates provides the great metaphor of the allegory of the cave metaphor explains the effects of education on the human soul; it brings the philosopher through various stages, ultimately to the Form of the Good
-
Socrates describes a dark scene. A group of people have lived in a deep cave since birth, never seeing the light of day. These people are bound so that they cannot look to either side or behind them, but only straight ahead. Behind them is a fire, and behind the fire is a partial wall. On top of the wall are various statues, which are manipulated by another group of people, lying out of sight behind the partial wall. Because of the fire, the statues cast shadows across the wall that the prisoners are facing.
-
-
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The prisoners watch the stories that these shadows play out, and because these shadows are all they ever get to see, they believe them to be the most real things in the world. When they talk to one another about “men,” “women,” “trees,” or “horses,” they are referring to these shadows. These prisoners represent the lowest stage on the line—imagination. End of book 7, p539 talks about the politics of the city; the amount of time one should spend in the political realm (15 years); the duty of politicians to serve knowledge to the people/those unaware of political realm why must the Kalop go through the stages (oligarchy, democracy, tyranny, etc). p 546 - why does the book end with the myth of earth plato has set himself up with a great problem and the myth is a great solution to this problemproblem: justice cant exist in the material realm, there has to be something permanent in the just realm the form of the truths sets up this permanent realm
PLATO THE REPUBLIC BOOK 8 - 437a-437b important note - Socrates says that along with the philosopher-king who symbolizes and embodies, and rules the just city, there are four other city-individual pairs timocracy; the honour-driven man who also embodies such a government; the oligarchy which resembles and is ruled by a man driven by appetitive nature; democracy which resembles and is ruled by a man driven by unnecessary appetites; and finally tyranny which resembles and is ruled by a man driven by unjust desires - the constitutional order goes from best to worst (tyranny being at the end) - these represent different eras and stages that the just city will go through eventually - Because the rulers of the just city will rely on their fallible sense perception in choosing the next generation of rulers, they will inevitably make mistakes
-
over time. Soon the wrong sort of people will occupy positions of power. These people will want to change things so that rulers can have private property and focus on wealth, while the good among the rulers will want to preserve the old order and focus on virtue. The rulers will claim all the property in the city as their own, and make producers into serfs a sort of class war will emerge these rulers would choose to have rulers with more of an interest in war then peace; simpleness; and passion for victory the following philosopher-king will be a man driven by honour and spirit (Timocracy) (father’s side is rational soul, mother’s side is more money loving = contains both personalities [proud-honour loving) next ruler is an oligarch: whose ruling is based entirely on wealth only those with wealth and property will have a say in governmental discussion faults in this city: unfit rulers, and a make up of 2 cities within one (poor and rich), the classes will always be plotting against each other, the city would not be fit for fighting a war because giving arms to the people would only fire back since the ruling regime does not value the likes of the people, lastly there is no specializations
