Plato, Homer, & Atwood
The focus on the concept of justice and frequent references to Homer in Plato’s Republic made me think about justice as portrayed in The Odyssey and The Penelopiad. In The Odyssey, the concept of “justice” is rather obscure; humans do not appear to have much agency and the concept of “fate” and often biased discretion […] Continue reading →
Plato’s Republic: Book I (revised)
My apologies to anyone reading this blog but I have made an error in my previous post regarding the history of Socrates. He was not executed by the 30 tyrants but the reinstated democracy after the fall of the 30. He was tried and executed for impiety and corrupting the youths. He was still executed […]
Plato’s Republic: Book IV
Just a few P’s that I have the privilege to point out: Purple, Property, Protection, and Principle. All part of Socrates’s select sophisticated sample of a stellar society. The fourth book of the Republic deals with the matter of deciding what virtue best embodies the ideas of the classes, of which he has 4: Wisdom, Courage, Moderation and Justice. Wisdom, […]
Plato’s Republic, Book IV
Book IV of Plato’s republic discusses specifically the city ‘Kallipolis’. Adeimantus begins by arguing that the ruler of the city will be unhappy, given that they are not afforded certain luxuries, such as being allowed to own property, amass any … Continue reading →
The Republic Book 2- Justice and the Kallipolis
There are two key points brought up in book 2. One is the idea that justice/living a just life is better in every way than injustice/ living an unjust life. The second is the theoretical construction of the perfect city (also called the kallipolis), and the rules that govern it. One of the points Plato […]
Plato’s Republic: Book III
In Book III of The Republic, Socrates, Glaucon, and Adeimantus extend the concept of the kallipolis introduced in the preceding conversation, establishing several key ideas about the ways in which it is necessary to educate and train the souls and bodies of the city’s “guardians”, how the three classes of peoples within the city are decided […]
Plato’s Republic – Book Three
In Book III Socrates goes on to talk about what the education and lifestyle the citizens in his kallipolis will have. In doing so, Socrates expels fear of death, lamentations of men in literary works, falsehoods including imitations, and vices out of his city. This is to support Socrates’s argument that if people are just, graceful […]
Plato’s Republic: Book V
In reading Book V and in lecture yesterday, I was fascinated by the ideas around family structure. The better part of this Book is spent describing exactly how the relations between men, women, and children would be governed in kallipolis. The ruler would be given the power to determine who the best people to breed would be, and, what I found most interesting, would lie to the people in saying that the matches were determined by lottery. Also, the children that are born from less desirable unions would be exposed, without the…read more
Plato’s Republic: Book I
In Book I of Plato’s Republic sets the stage for the course the rest of the Books as it introduces the main themes, mainly, what is justice? Upon Socrates’ returning from a religious festival he is greeted by Adeimantus (a brother of Plato) and Polemarchus (a young nobleman) who insist he make a detour to the home […]
Plato’s Republic Book II
Book II deals with a few different subject matters which are very interesting. The first is whether or not justice in its most abstract form is something which people truly desire . Socrates is challenged to prove that justice is practiced just for its own sake, as well as for the consequences which it will bring. […]