The Intelligent Troglodyte’s Guide to Plato’s Republic, 2016a

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57 The Form of the Good See 504a-505b. It has been clear from passages such as 484c-d and 500b-501b that, in Socrates’ opinion, nothing is more practical for ruling a city than knowing the forms. His thought is basically this: to do it well, you’ve got to know what you’re doing. Just as it would be ridiculous for someone who has never seen a giraffe to attempt to paint the image of a giraffe, it is ridiculous for someone to attempt to rule a city who has never contemplated the relevant forms. What forms are these? Presumably not straightforward things like the form of being three in number; for while it is well worth knowing what things are and what things are not three in number, common opinion with respect to three-ness isn’t going to lead anyone astray. But things like the form of justice are another matter entirely. Common opinions about justice can be very misleading. And then there is the form of the good. In positing a form of the good, most valuable of all things to understand and yet most easily misunderstood, Socrates is suggesting that there is an essential nature that all things of value have in common. Various things may be variously good in various respects, but they are all variously the same one thing: good. To come to know the form of the good is to achieve wisdom. Do you think there is such a thing as the form of the good? If so, can you explain its nature? Socrates doesn’t think he can give a direct account of it. Instead, he will try to describe it through analogies. Can you do any better? Is everything that is graspable by the mind capable of being defined? (Complex things can often be broken down and explained in terms of simpler things. But is everything like this? Is anything so basic that, though it may be indicated, it cannot be explained?) Aristotle is of the opinion that what it is to be good is not one thing, a single form, but many things, somewhat loosely grouped together under the word “good.” (See Nicomachean Ethics I.6.1096a23-28, Eudemian Ethics I.8.1217b26-34, and Topics I.15.107a3-11.) The chief reason he gives for holding this view is that the many things we call “good” – Fido the dog, God, justice, a line of verse, carrots, a flower arrangement, Henry being at
Back the starting line, Henry being over the finish line, and so on – are just too different in kind for the term “good” to mean the same thing when applied to each of them. Suppose someone were to raise this objection, basically that the word “good” is ambiguous. How might Socrates reply?
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The Intelligent Troglodyte’s Guid
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19 Luxuries in the Just City 20 The
Page 6 and 7:
Book IX 80 Lawless Desires 81 The R
Page 8 and 9:
Book I
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Back Is it possible to persuade a
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3 Treasure for Heaven See 329d-331b
Page 14 and 15:
5 The Craft of Justice See 332b-334
Page 16 and 17:
6 Benefiting Friends and Harming En
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7 The Advantage of the Stronger See
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8 The Good Shepherd See 339a-348b.
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9 The Blushing Argument See 348b-35
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10 Function, Virtue, and the Soul S
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Book II
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12 The Social Contract Theory of Ju
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14 The Challenge See 360e-362c. Soc
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15 The Teaching of Justice See 362c
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16 Glaucon’s Lover See 368a. Not
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18 Making the Most of Differences S
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20 The Good Soldier See 374a-376e.
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22 Gods Causing Bad Things See 377d
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23 Gods in Disguise or Speaking Fal
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24 Fear and Grief See 386a-388e. So
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Back Can a distinction be made bet
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27 Narrative Style and Personal Int
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28 The Emotional Power of Tune and
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29 Love of the Fine and Beautiful S
Page 54 and 55: sexually attractive the lovers may
Page 56 and 57: 31 Doctors and Judges See 405a-410a
Page 58 and 59: 32 Harmony in the Soul See 410a-412
Page 60 and 61: 33 Rulers See 412b-414b. It has bee
Page 62 and 63: 35 Private Property, Private Intere
Page 64 and 65: 36 The City as a Whole See 419a-423
Page 66 and 67: 37 Lawfulness Internalized, Legisla
Page 68 and 69: 38 Wisdom in the City See 427d-429a
Page 70 and 71: 40 Temperance in the City See 430d-
Page 72 and 73: Back families you may be fortunate
Page 74 and 75: pleasures of the body, with sensual
Page 76 and 77: 43 The Spirited Part of the Soul Se
Page 78 and 79: Back sufficient to prove that Socra
Page 80 and 81: Back appetitive part can be educate
Page 82 and 83: Book V
Page 84 and 85: 47 The Natures of Men and Women See
Page 86 and 87: Back Consider school sports teams.
Page 88 and 89: Back
Page 90 and 91: 50 The Waging of War See 466c-471e.
Page 92 and 93: 51 Philosophers and Knowledge of th
Page 94 and 95: Back imagined on the other? If so,
Page 96 and 97: 52 The Virtues of the Philosopher S
Page 98 and 99: Back Is the kind of understanding
Page 100 and 101: Back Do the people who would make
Page 102 and 103: Back provided to ordinary students?
Page 106 and 107: 58 Every Soul Pursues the Good See
Page 108 and 109: 60 Degrees of Clarity (the Line) Se
Page 110 and 111: Book VII
Page 112 and 113: Back lead them out of the cave? Wh
Page 114 and 115: 63 The Craft of Education See 518b-
Page 116 and 117: 65 Numbers as Summoners See 521c-52
Page 118 and 119: 66 Further Mathematical Studies See
Page 120 and 121: 68 Selecting Students for Philosoph
Page 122 and 123: 70 Completing the Education of the
Page 124 and 125: Book VIII
Page 126 and 127: Back authority, or would it be harm
Page 128 and 129: (chivalry and bushido respectively)
Page 130 and 131: 75 The Oligarchic City See 550c-552
Page 132 and 133: 76 The Oligarchic Soul See 553a-555
Page 134 and 135: 77 The Democratic City See 555b-558
Page 136 and 137: 78 The Democratic Soul See 558c-562
Page 138 and 139: 79 The Tyrannical City See 562a-569
Page 140 and 141: Book IX
Page 142 and 143: 81 The Right Way to Fall Asleep See
Page 144 and 145: Back Imagine a person who is obses
Page 146 and 147: Back What about the democratic cit
Page 148 and 149: 85 The Third Proof: True Pleasures
Page 150 and 151: Back Socrates likens the people wh
Page 152 and 153: 87 An Emblem of the Soul See 588b-5
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88 Will the Just Person Take Part i
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89 Return to Poetry See 595a. In Bo
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truth are highly entertaining. Cons
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92 A Call to Poetry’s Defenders S
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94 The Soul Without Barnacles See 6
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96 Suffering, Philosophy, and the C
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INDEX Numbers are to the 96 section
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Definition, 4, 5, 6, 7, 17, 29, 38,
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43, 74, 90, 96 Homosexuality, 16 Ho
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Painters and painting, 19, 29, 56,
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79, 82, 83 Suffering, 6, 12, 14, 22
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The Intelligent Troglodyte’s Guide to Plato’s Republic, 2016a

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