Socrates in The Republic
One of the first works of political philosophy is the Republic of Plato which is a masterpiece of insight and feeling, mainly expressed in dialogue form. Further development of Plato's ideas is undertaken in his Statesman and Laws, the latter prescribing the ruthless methods where they might be imposed. Plato grew up during the Great War between Athens and Sparta in which Athens lost and, like many political philosophers, tried to find ways for prevalent political injustice and decline. The Republic is the first of the writings; and it is the first classic attempt of a European philosopher to moralize political life. Cast as a lively discussion between Socrates, whose wisdom Plato is recounting, and various Athenians, Books V, VII-VIII, and IX of the Republic state the major themes of political philosophy with poetic power. Plato's work has been criticized by many, reflecting the moral assumptions of the elite in a slave-owning civilization and bound by the narrow limits of the city-state. The work is a classic example of a philosopher's bad views of society. With Socrates the central problem of philosophy shifted from the study of the physical universe to the formulation of a rule of life, to the "practical use of reason." As
the Apology relates, the specific message from God that Socrates brought to his fellowmen was that of the "care" or "tending" of one's "soul," to "make one's soul as good as possible"--"making it like God," in fact ,and not to ruin one's life, as most men do, by putting care for the body or for "possessions" before care for the "soul"; for the "soul" or psyche is that which is most truly a man's self. It was mainly through his influence on Plato, however, which took up the thought of Socrates and continued it in his own life's work, that Socrates' efforts became very recongnizable for the future. Thrasymachus appears to have taken a more radical approach ,if Plato's portrayal of his views is accurate. How far any of the special regulations of the Republic embody actual convictions of Socrates is more than can be said, though it is significant that the Aspasia of Aeschines represents Socrates as maintaining one of Plato's "paradoxes," the capacity of women for war and for politics. It would, however, be hard to understand such things if Plato had already been employing Socrates in that very capacity for years. Unfortunately, no complete separation of the Socratic and the Platonic is possible. Few modern scholars, however, support this view. It is very well known, that Aristotle, who apparently knew nothing of an earlier and a later version of Platonism, attributed to Plato a doctrine that is quite unlike anything to be found in the first group of dialogues. If true, however, one must be prepared to admit the possibility that he is also reproducing the thought of Socrates in The Republic, in which he speaks of a supreme Form, that of Beauty, or Good, the vision of which is the goal of all intellectual studies. Socrates gave influence on a group of men who have come to be known as "the minor Socratics," among whom the most important were Antisthenes of Athens and Eucleides of Megara. He is thus an early representative of doubts about morals and perhaps of a form of selfishness, the view that the rational thing to do is follow one's own interests. He explained that the concept of justice means nothing more than obedience to the laws of society, and, since these laws are made by the strongest political group in their own interests, justice represents nothing but the interests of the stronger. " Thrasymachus was probably not saying that whatever the mightiest do really is right; he is more likely to have been denying that the difference between right and wrong has any objective basis. The candidates who enjoy serving the good of the state will become rulers.
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