To get the conversation going, Glaucon suggests that all human goods can be classified into three general categories of desire (357c). If Socrates is going to convince them, much less anyone else, he will need to go into further detail on what precisely is so desirable about justice. After all, Thrasymachus has a point that injustice appears to triumph over justice more often than not. He defined justice as the virtue of the soul and argued that without justice, the soul is left miserable, purposeless, and without direction.Īs we turn to Book II, we see that Glaucon and Adeimantus find Socrates’ viewpoint attractive, but would like him to elaborate. Socrates refused to accept this position, insisting that justice cannot be reduced to power. Thrasymachus made a compelling case that life is merely a struggle for power and that it is clear to any rational person that injustice leads to greater success in the long run. In Book I, Socrates and Thrasymachus, the infamous Sophist, engaged in a heated debate over the definition of justice, specifically whether the just life is worth pursuing after all. To be Just, or Unjust, That is the Question Finally, Socrates and his friends discuss how the guardians, the warrior-leaders of the city, ought to be educated. Then Socrates puts forward his account of a just city to illustrate at a macro-level the origins of justice. First, they revisit whether justice is more desirable than injustice in the first place. In this section, Socrates and his friends make progress in their inquiry regarding the nature of justice. In today’s blog, I will take a closer look at Book II of the Republic.
Only by truly realizing one’s lack of understanding will one truly desire to grow in knowledge of the matter.
For Plato, encountering aporia is a crucial step in the learning process. He wants his readers to actively engage with his writings, thereby experiencing the joys and frustrations of intellectual inquiry for themselves. This conclusion to Book I is intentional on Plato’s part. They have attempted to defend the value of justice only to encounter a state of aporia, that is, uncertainty or doubt, instead.
In Book I of the Republic, Socrates and his friends are left at a stalemate.
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