GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

40 ETHICS AND POLITICS: THE GREEKS
would believe anybody else and lying would lose its point. 1
Since it is the existence of law-abiding citizens that calk
into being the law-breaking thug, it is clearly the business
of the citizen to restrain the thug. The philosopher cannot
philosophize while his neighbour is abducting his wife,
nor can the artist paint while the burglar is running off
with his canvases. In this sense all civilized activity is
dependent upon a minimum background of ordered
security, and the maintenance of this background is a
condition of its continuance. The use of force, then, is
required in society not against the normal, social citizen
but against the exceptional, anti-social citizen whom the
law-abiding activities of the normal citizen call into
existence, that he may be restrained from rendering those
activities impossible. It follows that it is society's business
to maintain that minimum standard of behaviour on
the part of all which is the indispensable condition of
the pursuit of the good life on the part of any. With this
object, and with this alone, it is entitled, by means of the
law, backed by force, to curtail a 'liberty whose exercise
would threaten the purpose for which the State exists,
and by reference to its ability to promote which its activities
must be justified.
The Nature of Excellence in a State. There is a
fourth conclusion which follows from the terms of Socrates's
answer to Glaucon, a conclusion which leads us to a consideration
of Plato's ethical position. Human nature, we
have argued, can only be fUlly realized in society; but,
Plato adds, the society must be one which really is a
society. Now societies can, it is obvious, vary in merit. (It
will be convenient to adopt the accepted phraseology from
this point and to introduce the word "State" although,
for reasons to be given later, 1 the identification of the
4
'State" with is society apt to be highly misleading.) States
1 The significance of this fact will be enlarged upon in connection
with the discussion of Kant's ethics in Chapter VI, pp. ao8, 209.
See Chapter XVIII, pp. 765-767-