THE REPUBLIC OF PLATO - Studyplace

I. 34~:t RULING AS AN ART 23
of medicine was invented: it was designed to help the body and
'Provide for its interests. Would not that be true
It would.
But now take the art of medicine itself. Has that any defects
or weaknesses Does any art stand in need of some further per~
fection, as the eye would be imperfect without the power of vision
or the ear without hearing, so that in their case an art is required
that will study their interests and provide for their carrying out
those functions Has the art itself any corresponding need of some
further art to remedy its defects and look after its interests; and
will that further art require yet another, and so on for ever Or
will every art look after its own interests Or, finally, is it not true
that no art needs to have its weaknesses remedied or its interests
studied either by another art or by itself, because no art has in itself
any weakness or fault, and the only interest it is required to
serve is that of its subject-matter In itself, an art is sound and
flawless, so long as it is entirely true to its own nature as an art in
the strictest sense-and it is the strict sense that I want you to keep
in view. Is not that true
So it appears.
Then, said I, the art of medicine does not study its own interest,
but the needs of the body, just as a groom shows his skill by caring
for horses, not for the art of grooming. And so every art seeks, not
its own advantage-for it has no deficiencies-but the interest of
the subject on which it is exercised.
It appears so.
But surely, Thrasymachus, every art has authority and superior
power over its subject.
To this he agreed, though very reluctantly.
So far as arts are concerned, then, no art ever studies or enjoins
the interest of the superior or stronger party, but always that of
the weaker over which it has authority.
Thrasymachus assented to this at last, though he tried to put up
a fight. I then went on:
So the physician, as such, studies only the patient's interest, not
his own. For as we agreed, the business of the physician, in the
strict sense, is not to make money for himself, but to exercise his