Philosopher-Kings: The Argument of Plato's Republic

370 Pages·2006·3.64 MB·English

by  C. D. C. Reeve

PHILOSOPHER-KINGS
THE ARGUMENT OF
PLATO’S REPUBLIC
C.D.C. REEVE
PHILOSOPHER-KINGS
LINE CAVE
Cave Person
Complete Property Analogue (Psychological BoundBy Epistemic
Power SetOver inCave Type) (RuledBy) Power
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Dialectical- Forms TheSun Unbound Daylight- Rational Knowledge
Thought Dwellers Desires
(Noesis) (Wisdom-Lovers)
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Scientific- Figures TheThings BoundDaylight- Spirited TrueOpinion
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(Dianoia) (Honour-Lovers)
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Folk-Wisdom Modes Modelsof Unbound Cave- Necessary Opinion
(Pistis) theThings Dwellers Appetites
~ (2) Themselves (Money-Lovers)
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Perceptual- Qualities Imagesof Bound Unnecessary Opinion
Thought Modelsof Cave-Dwellers Appetites
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A
PHILOSOPHER- KINGS
THE
ARGUMENT
OF PLATO'S
REPUBLIC
C. D. C. R EEVE
HACKETT PUBLISHING COMPANY,INC.
INDIANAPOLIS/CAMBRIDGE
Copyright 0 1988 by Princeton University Press
Reprinted in 2006 by Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
All rights reserved
For further information, please address:
Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
P. 0. Box 44937
Indianapolis, IN 46244-0937
Cover design by Abigail Coyle
Printed at Edwards Brothers, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Reeve, C.D.C., 1948-
Philosopher-kings : the argument of Plato's Republic / C.D.C. Reeve
p. cm.
Originally published: Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, cl988.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 0-87220-815-X (cloth) - ISBN 0-87220-814-1 (paper)
I. Plato. Republic. 1.Title.
ISBN-13 978-0-87220-815-5 (cloth)
ISBN-13 978-0-87220-8 14-8 (paper)
eISBN 978-1-60384-035-4 (e-book)
The quotation from Wallace Stevens on page vi is from Collected Poems, copyright 1954 by
Wallace Stevens; reprinted by permission of the publishers, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, and
Faber & Faber, London. Parts of Chapter 1.4-8 appeared in a different form in Archi11f ur
Ccschichte der Philosophic 67, Band 1985 Heft 3, pp. 246-65 (Walter de Gruyter & Co.).
For
Daddy and Mammy
Total grandeur ofatotaledifice,
Chosen by an inquisitor ofstructures
Forhimself.
WALLACESTEVENS
CONTENTS
Preface Xl
Preface to the Hackett Edition xv
ONE A PROBLEM ABOUT JUSTICE 3
1.1 Introduction 3
1.2 Socrates 4
1.3 Cephalus and Polemarchus 5
1.4 Thrasymachus 9
1.5 Thrasymachus' First Argument 10
1.6 Thrasymachus' SecondArgument 16
1.7 Socrates' Response and Its Effects 19
1.8 Plato's Purposes 22
1.9 Glaucon's Division ofGoods 24
1.10 Glaucon's Defense ofInjustice 25
1.II Glaucon's Challenge 28
1.12 Why Glaucon? 33
1.13 The Aimofthe Republic 41
TWO EPISTEMOLOGY AND METAPHYSICS 43
2.1 Introduction 43
2.2 The Divisions ofDesires 43
2·3 Psychopathology 47
2·4 Education and Desire 49
2·5 The Cave 5°
2.6 Prologue to the Line 52
2·7 The Line 53
Vll
CONTENTS
2.8 Knowledge and Opinion 58
2·9 Science and Dialectic 71
2.10 Mathematical Aspects ofthe Line 79
2.II The Sun 81
2.12 Powers and Goods 95
2.13 The Development ofthe Theory ofForms IOI
2·14 TheLimits ofPhilosophy 110
2.15 Agents and Spectators 115
THREE PSYCHOLOGY 118
3.I Introduction 118
3.2 The Tripartite Psyche 118
3·3 Origins and Merits ofPsychicDivision 131
3·4 The Core Conception ofthe PsychicParts 135
3·5 Psychic Rule 14°
3·6 Pleasures 144
3·7 Happiness 153
3.8 Immortality and Simplicity 159
3·9 An Outline ofPlatonicPsychology 162
3.IO Reason and Rationality 167
FOUR POLITICS 17°
4.I Introduction 17°
4.2 The Structure ofthe Accountofthe Kallipolis 17°
4·3 Specialization 172
4·4 Producers 176
4·5 Guardians 178
4.6 Producers Again 186
4·7 Philosopher-Kings 191
4.8 Guardians Again 195
4·9 Kallipolis 197
Vlll
CONTENTS
4.10 Unity and PoliticalAwareness 204
4.I I The Lies ofthe Rulers 208
4.12 Invalids, Infants, Women, and Slaves 213
4.13 ThePerils ofPoetry 220
4.14 Freedom 231
FIVE THE PSYCHOPOLITICS OF JUSTICE 235
5.I Introduction 235
5.2 ConventionalJustice 236
5.3 From ConventionalJustice toJustice Itself 245
5.4 Justice Itself 250
5.5 Plato's Theory ofEthics 264
Notes 275
Bibliography 321
General Index 329
Index Locorum 337
IX