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

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Back Imagine a person who is obsessed with pursuing the answer to an exceptionally challenging problem in mathematics. This is all he cares about. Everything in his life is subordinated to finding the answer to this problem. He has contempt for his fellow human beings – “mere particulars,” he calls them – and thinks nothing of stealing from them or manipulating them in other ways if it will help him as he works towards his problem’s solution. Would this person have a tyrannical soul? Socrates assumes that a person ruled by the rational part of the soul will live an orderly, virtuous life. But he also assumes that such a person either knows the form of the good or aspires to attain this knowledge. What then of the obsessed mathematician? Is this example psychologically possible, or does the pursuit of the forms, even of relatively unimportant mathematical forms, inevitably cleanse the soul of selfishness and moral insensitivity?
83 The First Proof: Analogy of City and Soul See 576b-580c. Socrates’ reply to the challenge from Book II is in the form of three arguments, the first of which is an argument by analogy: A tyrannical soul is like a tyrannical city, for the powerful lawless desire of a tyrannical person lords over the rest of the soul much as a tyrant lords over the rest of the city. The tyrannical city is, however, enslaved, poor, fearful, and generally miserable. Therefore, the tyrannical soul is similarly miserable. (It is doubly bad, Socrates thinks, if the person is an actual tyrant, for then he is not only enslaved internally, but, because he is in constant danger of being overthrown by his subjects, he lives in constant fear, a prisoner in his own palace.) It is clear at the end of this passage that Glaucon and Socrates think the argument can be extended to democratic, oligarchic, timocratic, and aristocratic souls as well, with the result that people are happy to the extent that they are just. It never gets stated explicitly, but the general argument appears to be this: The more justice there is in a city, the more each citizen is doing the job for which he or she is best suited, and the more harmoniously the city functions. The more harmoniously the city functions, the more adequately the citizens’ desires are satisfied. The more adequately the citizens’ desires are satisfied, the happier the city is. So the more justice there is in a city, the happier it is. Similarly, the more justice there is in a person’s soul, the more each part of the soul is doing the job for which it is best suited, and the more harmoniously the soul functions. The more harmoniously the soul functions, the more adequately the desires of each part of the soul are satisfied. The more adequately the desires of the parts are satisfied, the happier the person is. Therefore, the more one is just, the more one is happy. How good is the analogy between cities and souls? How is the relation between the parts of a soul different from the relation between the parts of a city? Is a successful mobster whose rational part is entirely in the service of his appetitive part necessarily miserable? Would the rational part feel pain on account of its servitude?
Page 2 and 3:
The Intelligent Troglodyte’s Guid
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19 Luxuries in the Just City 20 The
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Book IX 80 Lawless Desires 81 The R
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Book I
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Back Is it possible to persuade a
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3 Treasure for Heaven See 329d-331b
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5 The Craft of Justice See 332b-334
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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
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sexually attractive the lovers may
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31 Doctors and Judges See 405a-410a
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32 Harmony in the Soul See 410a-412
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33 Rulers See 412b-414b. It has bee
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35 Private Property, Private Intere
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36 The City as a Whole See 419a-423
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37 Lawfulness Internalized, Legisla
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38 Wisdom in the City See 427d-429a
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40 Temperance in the City See 430d-
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Back families you may be fortunate
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pleasures of the body, with sensual
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43 The Spirited Part of the Soul Se
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Back sufficient to prove that Socra
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Back appetitive part can be educate
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Book V
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47 The Natures of Men and Women See
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Back Consider school sports teams.
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Back
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50 The Waging of War See 466c-471e.
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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 104 and 105: 57 The Form of the Good See 504a-50
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 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
Page 154 and 155: 88 Will the Just Person Take Part i
Page 156 and 157: 89 Return to Poetry See 595a. In Bo
Page 158 and 159: truth are highly entertaining. Cons
Page 160 and 161: 92 A Call to Poetry’s Defenders S
Page 162 and 163: 94 The Soul Without Barnacles See 6
Page 164 and 165: 96 Suffering, Philosophy, and the C
Page 166 and 167: INDEX Numbers are to the 96 section
Page 168 and 169: Definition, 4, 5, 6, 7, 17, 29, 38,
Page 170 and 171: 43, 74, 90, 96 Homosexuality, 16 Ho
Page 172 and 173: Painters and painting, 19, 29, 56,
Page 174 and 175: 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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