Plato's Political Philosophy

CHAPTER 6 Philosophy and Politics: The Republic

CHAPTER 6 Philosophy and Politics The Republic We have now discussed several experiences that are at the root of philosophy, and a phenomenon, beauty, that helps to define both ethical and intellectual virtue.1 It is therefore reasonable to turn next to Plato’s Republic. For, beyond any other work, the Republic explains and defends the philosophic way of life, and charms and attracts us to it. Moreover, it examines at length the relation between philosophy and politics, and culminates politically in the claim that philosophers should rule—not law, as in the Laws. It employs Socrates’ rational force to explore justice, a subject that concerns every honorably ambitious man or woman. Each of its explorations turns us to the ceaselessly disturbing question of happiness, or the best way of life.2 The Republic We have four chief goals in considering the Republic: to expand our understanding of justice, to see better the connection between philosophy and politics , to explore more fully the question of what is good, and to continue to examine Plato’s view of the human soul. Philosophy and Politics 167 The Republic’s subject is justice, and the subject is oriented thematically to the literal title, the regime (or form of government). What is the most just form of government? Plato shows what would need to be true for justice to be fully encapsulated within politics and why this is impossible.3 He then examines the way of life, philosophy, that comes closest to justice. The political community’s bodily existence and the necessities with which it deals, however virtuously, restrict its excellence. We can more justly satisfy ourselves by experiencing what is good as philosophy seeks it. Philosophy and politics are, nonetheless, inseparable, because thought depends on the leisure, and explores the opinions, that are present in (some) political communities, and because every community is governed by an understanding of what is good. The Republic, therefore, also attempts to uncover the natures or natural limits —the defining enclosures, unmade by man—that let politics and philosophy be what they are. I Justice first comes to sight in the Republic in three opinions that Socrates refutes in Book I. Cephalus suggests that justice is telling the truth and returning what one owes, that is, that justice is honesty. Polemarchus claims that justice is helping friends and harming enemies, that is, that justice is acquiring, producing , or distributing good things for one’s city. Thrasymachus asserts that justice is the advantage of the stronger, that is, that justice is obeying rulers, or the law. Socrates refutes each opinion in ways he links to the others. By doing so, he shows that there is truth in each one. Honesty might lead to bad results; it is not just to return a knife to a friend who has since gone mad. Justice, therefore, depends on knowing what is good. Obtaining a good, such as health, from someone who secures it, such as a physician, however, is not guaranteed by his art alone. It also depends on the physician’s honesty or friendship, or on legal force. The legal force that helps to secure honesty serves common or private goods genuinely, however, only if rulers truly grasp what is good and reward those who serve it. The central of these three opinions is Polemarchus’ claim that justice is helping friends and harming enemies, and we can uncover Plato’s intention in Book I by concentrating on it. Socrates refutes Polemarchus by showing that to procure any good one would prefer an expert to a just man.4 Sick people seek physicians. Horse buyers seek trainers. Justice, therefore, seems useless. 168 Politics and Philosophy Perhaps it is useful for safeguarding, Polemarchus suggests. But someone who knows how to protect may also be an excellent thief; knowledge as such does not guarantee proper use. The physician is the potentially best murderer, the trainer the best positioned to make an old nag look young and spry, and so on. What, then, helps ensure that the physician, guard, or trainer uses his skill properly and helps bring us the good that we seek from him? We would normally say his honesty, law-abidingness, fear of being caught, good character, “morality”—in a word, the justice Cephalus already mentioned. This is inadequate as a full understanding of justice, as we saw, but so, too, is justice understood as bringing people good...