1G0xxeB

Happy City, Happy Citizens? The Common Good and the Private Good in Plato’s Republic2 0 1Happy City, Happy Citizens? The Common Goodand the Private Good in Plato’s RepublicJonat h a n C u l pUniversity of Dallasjculp@udallas.eduI.In the conversation recounted in Plato’s Republic, Socrates and his interlocutors(chiefly Glaucon and Adeimantus) seek to discover the nature ofjustice in order to determine whether it is always better for an individualto be just rather than unjust. In pursuit of a definition of justice, Socratesproposes that they build a city in speech so that, by discovering the natureof justice in the city, they might more easily discover the nature of justice inthe individual (368d–369b). 1 Although the city in speech is therefore ostensiblyjust a means to a further goal, it becomes an object of interest in itsown right, taking up a significant portion of the conversation. 2 The city itselfpasses through a number of incarnations before settling on a final form. Itbegins as a rustic collective aimed at providing basic material necessities ofits members (369b–372d). It briefly passes through a stage of excessive luxuryand military aggression (372d–373e), only to become a moderate city wherefarmers and artisans provide material sufficiency while being guarded andruled by a class of guardians comprehensively educated in political virtueand fiercely devoted to the city (374a–427c). In book 5, the city undergoes aneven more radical transformation, when it emerges that the guardian class1The Republic of Plato, trans. Allan Bloom, 2nd ed. (New York: Basic Books, 1991), 357b. All translationsfrom the Republic will be taken from this edition. Textual references are by Stephanus pagenumber, and all further Stephanus references are to the Republic. I have used Burnet’s edition of theGreek text in Platonis Opera, vol. 4 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1902).2369b–434d, 449a–487a, 517a–541b.© 2015 Interpretation, Inc.