PHIL 1003: Ethics and society Plato II: Community-Individual

Discussion Board reminder ‘School of Humanities’ Username: student Password: dike

Logos (Greek) One faculty of speech and reason.

Review Socrates and Plato

Socrates Controversial figure Publicly questioned received ideas in –Morality –Politics Athens condemned him to death; Influenced important thinkers: –Plato –Xenophon

First arguments in Republic Socrates’ arguments re morality—why are they unsatisfactory? –expertise vs money-making (343aff.) –superiority practiced by the immoral (349c) –skill-morality analogy: being immoral is like being stupid (348aff., 350d) can a person of lower IQ be moral? If so, then Socrates is wrong about the analogy. –Good people only take power in order to avoid being oppressed by bad people ( 347b-d) Competition to avoid power in good society.

These arguments fail: So what can we do to stop the pursuit of power, and exploitation?

Answer: Platonic concept of soul, or ‘anima’ Related words: animate, animated, animation.

Initial proposal: two-part soul Reason Should supervise whole person Restrains desires Makes morality possible But in disordered souls reason may not rule. Desires Strive to be satisfied Food, Sex, power If reason does not maintain control, Desires take over Result: anarchy (no ruler).

Plato adds key third part: passion (thymos, Gr.) Passion = guardian of the soul Analogous to guardians of city Passion acts w/ reason to safeguard self- discipline and morality; Exception: in anarchic soul, passion may aid desire instead; What happens to anarchic souls?

Key concept: Hierarchy: relation of superior to inferior; there has to be a ranking of unequal persons or parts, not equality.

Structure of soul Reason PassionDesire

Structure of Platonic soul 3 parts: –each should do its appointed task; Reason (like Philosopher-king) in charge; Passion (like auxiliaries) keeps desires under control; Desire (like ‘rabble’, children, women, slaves 431c), subordinate to reason and passion; This is order of nature (444d).

Community-Individual Analogies Principle of Specialization (406c) Analogy to city: –each inhabitant should do his/her appointed task; Analogy to craft: –shoemaker should make shoes –House builder should build houses.

The harmonious soul “…we call him self-disciplined when there’s concord and attunement between these same parts—that is, when the ruler and its two subjects unanimously agree on the necessity of the rational part being the ruler and when they don’t rebel against it?” (442d)

Questions? Comments?

Achieving unity Plato’s vision of the city and morality

Individual-community analogy “…human morality is the same in kind as a community’s morality” (441d) Each part does its task = –unity of soul and city; Unity = health, morality, order; Not a plurality; no division or conflict; Plurality = illness, disorder; Aristotle, Pol. Bk 2; prefers plurality.

A “noble lie”: Myth of the metals, 415a Some born gold, others silver; Most are base metals (iron and copper); Gold are trained to be rulers: rational Silver = guardians: –passionate to protect and preserve city Base metals are commoners, workers, –Have to be kept in check b/c ruled by desire.

Question: Is it moral to lie?

It’s ok for rulers to lie for a good end “…the gods really have no use for falsehood, although it can serve as a type of medicine for us humans, then clearly lying should be entrusted to doctors…” “If it’s anyone’s job, then it’s the job of the rulers of our community: they can lie for the good of the community, when either an external or an internal threat makes it necessary” (389b).

Do you see any problems with this argument? How can the rulers distinguish a good end from a bad one?

Question What is done with children born into the wrong class?

What about golds or silvers born as base metals? No problem! Educate them according to the status to which they should have been born (415c). But ‘rabble’ just need to know their jobs— no special education.

Role of eugenics (selective breeding) Plato’s city resembles Sparta Breeding upper classes for best traits— –intelligence, –physical prowess –passion Arranged matings: no families, no marriages No private property One big, unified family –Aristotle dislikes the whole idea of Platonic ‘unity’.

Role of Education for Auxiliaries and Guardians Topics: –Mathematics –Gymnastic –Music Who is educated? –Guardians –Philosopher-kings –Rabble (majority) are excluded. W/out proper education, a gold child will turn out bad and cannot develop into a philosopher.

Assessments of Republic J.J. Rousseau considered Republic a treatise on education Others have argued it is fundamentally anti-political Still others take it seriously as a political treatise.

Question If immorality is caused by the three factors (rationality, desirous, passion) being in conflict with each other due to mental sickness, can you blame someone for being immoral?

One answer …if an act, which in by itself is immoral, is conducted while the person is suffering from mental sickness, then the person cannot be called an immoral person in so far as he does not have the intention to conduct the immoral act in the first place. However, if he or she possess even the slightest immoral intent and in turn committed an immoral act, then we can reasonably call the person immoral.