Phaedrus — Plato

INTRODUCTION I. The subject of the Republic is given in the dialogue as justice. Justice, as here used, may be described quite generally as the right conduct of individual and social life. The conduct of life is held to be determined by the nature of the world in which we live and by the nature of man. II. We are said to live in two worlds.

One of ftiese is the world which is eternal, unchangeable, absolutely good, absolutely beautiful, absolutely one, in all ways absolutely perfect. It is called the world of being, world of essence, the real world, the one, the good, the absolute, and other such names. The soul is said to belong by its highest nature to the eternal world, and by pure reflection it may know the real world as it is.

This is the only true knowledge, the only true guide for the conduct of individual and social life. While we are on earth we are, through our bodies, in connection with the world of imperfect things. Theknowledge which we have of this world through our bodily senses is not true knowledge^ and the life of the individual or state is corrupted in so far as it is guided by such pseudo-knowledge.

For a further discussion or this polttt SCe GcnijrJll Introduc^ tion, p. xxiv. For the several grades of knowledge, from total ignorance to pure science, see especially V., 476, to VII., 521. III. The Nature of Man : The life of man is said to have three principles, (a) the appetitive principle which impels him I8i

1 p. 82toward the satisfaction of bodily desires; (b) the spirited principle which impels him to fight; and (c) the rational principle which tend^to control all his actions in accordance with the absolute truth.

The virtues which the soul should possess are accordingly as follows: (1) Courage: " He is deemed courageous who, having the element of passion working within him, preserves in the midst of pain and pleasure the notion of danger which reason requires." (2) Wisdom : " He is wise who has in him that little part which rules and gives orders, that part being suffered to have a knowledge of what is for the interest of each and all of the three parts." (3) Temperance : " He is temperate who has these same elements in friendly harmony, in whom the one ruling principle of reason, and the two subject ones of spirit and desire, are equally agreed that reason ought to rule and do not rebel." (4) Justice : Justice is the perfect harmony of the other three virtues.

" The just man does not permit the several elements within him to interfere with one another or any of them to do the work of the others ; but he sets in order his own mner life and is his own master and at peace with himself ; and when he has bound together the three principles within him which may be compared to the middle, higher, and lower divisions of the scale and the intermediate intervals, — when he has bound together all these and is no longer many, but has become one entirely temperate and perfectly adjusted nature,' then he will truly distinguish justice and injustice, and will act accord'ngly.

In a word. Justice is health — the harmonious organic unity of all the elements of man's life m accordance with the absolute iruth. IV. The Nature of the State: The true nature of the State corresponds to the nature of the individual man. There are three classes of persons in the State, the laborers, the soldiers^ and the statesmen. The proper virtue for the statesmen is

INTRODUCTION 1 83 wisdom ; for the soldiers courage ; for all classes temperance. Where all classes have their proper virtues and occupations, the State has the virtue of justice, or perfect health. On III. and IV. see Book IV. especially 428 to close. V.

Education : Since the State as a whole and the lives of all the citizens can be rightly determined only by the absolute truth, and since the absolute truth or knowledge of the eternal world is attained only by the philosophers, the philosophers alone are fit to rule the State. A question of primary importance is therefore the selection and education of those who are to become the philosopher-statesmen.

Very few, Plato holds, are fit by nature for this high office ; for the necessary perfection of body and mind, especially the right mingling of gentleness with spirit, are rarely found in the same individual. When fit children are found, they should'JI be given the education proper for a guardian, to whatever class their parents belong. The elementary education of these children should consist of music and gymnastics.

With Plato, music includes poetry, and, in a wider sense, all the arts. (See Republic, IL, Note 1 7.) The essential thing about the elementary education is that all things therein shall be determined by the philosopher in accordance with the absolute truth. The greater part of the literature and other art of Greece is condemned by Plato, because its beauty is not a beauty which is in harmony with the absolute good.

At a later stage <20 years), the youth who is preparing to be a philosopher-statesman should study the pure abstract sciences of arithmetic, plane geometry, solid geometry, astronomy, and musical harmony. Only after this preparation, and at the age of thirty, is he fit to begin the study of pure philosophy or dialectic. After pursuing this subject for five years, he enters active public life for fifteen years. After the age of fifty he returns to the study of philosophy for the re-