Book 1 of Plato's Republic. Drew A. Mannetter

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СКАЧАТЬ 1, the entire worldview of the relativist is still unscathed. Hence, in Book 2, Glaucon and Adimantus restate Callicles’ position from the Gorgias and demand that Socrates really demonstrate that the life of conventional virtue is superior to that of injustice. The Republic is much more ambitious than simply supplying another definition of justice; indeed, this is accomplished by Book 4. It is an attempt to set out how the excesses of the relativistic worldview can be countered and replaced by a system of rule based on justice. Plato does so by appealing to the philosophy of idealism, wherein there are truths inherent in the world and his “Philosopher Kings” learn what those truths are and rule accordingly.

      Book 1 specifically can be thought of as a stand-alone Socratic dialogue asking “what is justice?”. All of the elements of an early Socratic dialogue are included: the what is “X” question, a definition, a refutation, further redefinition, perplexity, and no concrete resolution at the end. The text begins with a common sense definition of justice: to tell the truth and return what one has received. This definition is criticized and goes through several revisions, ending with a definition that would have appealed to any Athenian and to many people today: to help friends and harm enemies. This definition also comes under scrutiny and is ultimately rejected. It is at this point that Thrasymachus bursts into the conversation and supplies his definition: justice is the interest of the stronger. Most of the remainder of the Book 1 is taken up with refuting this definition.

      The greatness of the Republic does not lie in Plato’s definition of justice in Book 4 as it is not very satisfactory: “this principle of doing one’s own business … the having and doing of one’s own and what belongs to oneself would admittedly be justice.” (Republic, 433.b-434.a) It does serve, however, to stimulate one to attempt to define justice as something beyond the relativistic definitions of “might make right” and “justice is the interest of the stronger.” Plato was keenly aware of where the unregulated pursuit of power, money, and pleasure had led the Athenian empire – to the destruction of the Athenian army in Sicily and the eventual loss of their empire. If a person does not want to slide down the slippery slope of relativism and join Callicles in advocating for a life solely in pursuit of power, money, and pleasure, other values need to be prioritized. The values which build strong and stable communities, such as justice, fairness, equality, liberty, and solidarity, must be defended. The excesses to which relativistic thinking has led us today threaten the extinction of the entire human race. Hopefully, a consideration of Plato’s Republic will illuminate a path for us to follow with more heart than the unregulated pursuit of power, money, and pleasure.

1The importance of Protagoras as a philosopher cannot be overstated. While the philosopher Whitehead claimed that “the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato”, I would argue instead that that the entire corpus of Western philosophy and theology, including Plato, is a one long argument either for or against Protagoras’s position. Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, pg. 39 [Free Press, 1979]

2All quotations from Protagoras are taken from The Presocratics, edited by Philip Wheelwright. The Odyssey Press, 1982.

3Any time a person invokes the words “always” or “never” with the words “right” and “wrong”, such as “it is never right to steal”, they are not relativists but rather are expounding the position known as idealism.

4For a straightforward explication of progress in human morality see the opening pages of Aldo Leoplod’s “The Land Ethic.”

5For example, a student should not succumb to the short term pleasure of an all-night video game spree the night before an exam (when it brings no lasting pleasure) if one would do poorly on the exam (which will influence the rest of your life).

6Herodotus, Histories. Translated by Aubrey De Sélincourt. Penguin Books, 2003. Book 3, Chapter 38.

7All references from the Gorgias are taken from W. D. Woodhead’s translation in The Collected Dialogues of Plato, edited by Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns. Bollingen Series LXXI. Princeton University Press, Ninth Printing, April 1978.

8Callicles would not have admitted that it is more shameful to do wrong but would have argued that no deed is shameful if it leads to the advancement of his own power, money, or pleasure: “And I do not think much of Polus for the very reason that he agreed with you that it is more disgraceful to do than suffer injustice, for it was as a result of this admission that he was caught in the toils of your argument and silenced, because he was ashamed to say what he thought.” (482.d-e)

      AUTHOR’S NOTE ON USING THIS TEXT

      This text is intended for the intermediate student who still has not mastered classical Greek but has a basic knowledge of the language. Essentially, I have written the text that I wish I had had access to when I was making the transition from first year textbook to unadapted texts. Since the level of preparation varies so extremely from student to student at the intermediate stage, I have attempted to write a comprehensive work that students of different backgrounds and abilities will find useful. The goal was to be complete; indeed, it may be too complete for some people’s taste. However, I would prefer to error on the side of too much information rather than too little. I have found with my students at this stage that repetition is what they need to cement concepts and vocabulary. I do not assume that the student has a “basic vocabulary” that I can omit; hence, every word is included in the vocabulary lists. The same with grammar and syntax – I make no assumption that students will know what any word is or how any construction works. I attempt to explain them all. Although subjects or main verbs may be considered painfully obvious to those with extensive experience reading Greek, even basic points such as these can frustrate the beginning student who may or may not easily recognize their syntactical significance. I also see no reason for me to assume that a student is going to read the text in its entirety from the first sentence; one may skip around and isolate the section on old age or Thrasymachus’ definition of justice. Hence, I repeat many explanations and this may seem wearisome to those who already are comfortable with Greek. The notes are for beginners at all levels, not for those who already understand Greek.

      My advice for the student using this text is to approach each sentence methodically. First, read it out loud. Second, read through the vocabulary and isolate words which you do not know. If your ability is on the high intermediate side, attempt to read the entire sentence without accessing the notes. Do not stop half way but plow through the entire sentence. Then, if there is a part of the sentence that is causing difficulty, isolate that part of the sentence and use the notes to clear it up. If your ability is lower intermediate, you may wish to read through all the notes to preview the upcoming constructions before attempting to read the sentence. Each grammar point is referenced to Smyth’s Greek Grammar. If the student wishes to read more on any point or see further examples, they should stop and reference that grammar book. Finally, write out your own translation in the space provided under each sentence. Your final translation should be in good, idiomatic English. Then, repeat with the next sentence.

      Classical Greek is a deep and rich language that has the flexibility to express the philosophical ideas that Plato pursued. Do not get discouraged if you do not get all the nuances right away. Reading Greek is like playing a musical instrument – it takes time and practice to master it. If you persevere and read Book 1 in its totality, you will notice a dramatic leap in your proficiency.

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