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

29 Love of the Fine and Beautiful
See 400e-403c. The Greek word kalon (kalos, etc.) is translated differently in the
same context by different people, and differently in different contexts by the same
people. It is always a term of approbation (except in contexts of irony), but it
appears in English sometimes as “beautiful,” sometimes as “fine,” sometimes as
“good,” sometimes as “noble,” sometimes as “splendid,” sometimes as
“excellent,” sometimes as “acceptable,” and sometimes as “right.” Later in the
Republic (in Book V, 475e-476d, an important passage), Socrates is going to ask
what it is in virtue of which the many kalon things are one thing, kalon, and it is
standard practice to translate his answer as “beauty in itself” or “the beautiful
itself.” Why then not consistently translate kalon as “beautiful”? The concern is
that modern English speakers associate “beautiful” with what is supposed to be too
narrow a class of objects – pretty faces, sunsets, Mozart’s music and the like –
whereas the word kalon was used in Plato’s day to indicate appealing aspects of
virtually anything: tools, games, approaches to education, religious processions (as
in the second sentence of the Republic), dispositions of the soul, mathematical
proofs, political arrangements, and so on. But it is debatable whether the
refashioning of a single Greek word into several English words is helpful,
particularly in this case. If there is something common to all kalos things, as
Socrates is going to be arguing, then to split up references to this common
property by using a variety of words is to invite the reader to lose track of an
important point. Besides, the English word “beautiful” is applied more widely
nowadays than is often recognized, roughly as widely as the Greeks applied the
word kalon. When a computer makes a difficult task simple we say that it does it
“beautifully.” A long touchdown pass in a difficult situation we call a “perfectly
beautiful execution.” Well-designed business plans are said to be “beautifully
thought through.” Chairs, bowls, and buildings, if elegant and functional, are said
to be “beautiful.” And when it comes to persons, we recognize “inner beauty” as
well as “outer beauty.” It may seem odd to suppose that so diverse a set of things
could have something in common in virtue of which they all deserve to be called
“beautiful,” but Socrates evidently believes this to be so and considers it an