The Republic (381 BC) | Plato

This was a hard read. For a man only starting to dabble in philosophy, this was a struggle. There's a certain kind of blaaggh from philosophy. I don't know what it is. It's almost like listening to a scholarly talk way beyond your comprehension; like if a preschooler sat down in a college trigonometry class.


The TL;DR version is: a bunch of philosophers gathered round and discussed details and debated about Justice, Reality and the ideal State, the Republic.



Now I'm not sure if this is fiction or non-fiction, the only character that rang a bell was Socrates. I'm also wondering if Socrates simply made Plato the minutes-of-the-meeting note taker, or did Plato only compile different discussions into one, or maybe Plato made everything up with his mentor, Socrates, as the main character. Who knows. 



Early on what ensues is an exchange of long passages, as you would imagine a philosophy discussion. Justice is discussed from different angles:

  • Justice stemming from necessity
  • Justice for its sake
  • Justice coming from power
  • Justice for the sake of character and reputation
This is sprinkled all through out in some way. And I thought the discussions about Justice would be finished in about 30 pages. Nope!

At times, It weirdly transitions into a bit of dialogue about art, poetry and music. In this republic, it's crazy how they're thinking of banning certain types of musical scale because they deem it to be too sad, or expressive of sorrow. The same way with a certain type of meter in poetry, or a certain type of imitation of art. For all intents and purposes, it's their discussion so they can place rules as they wish, it just seems odd that you would impose limits on what kind of art people can make.

Next is a discussion of the just man, his character and their ideal guardians which should be educated in these four virtues: wisdom, courage, justice and temperance.
"The harmonious soul is both temperate and courageous.The inharmonious is cowardly and boorish."

"The true self and concernment of man-
he sets in order his own inner life,
he is his own master and his own law
and is at peace with himself."
They advocate that the ideal king/ruler must also be a philosopher, one properly groomed.
"(The Philosopher), he is like a plant which, having proper nurture, must necessarily grow and mature into all virtue, but if sown and planted in alien soil becomes the most noxious of all weeds, unless preserved by some divine power. "
and here's an interesting analogy.
"Philosophy is the gymnastics of the soul."

There are some thought-provoking tales in their discussions, one being the Allegory of the Cave (famously influenced the Matrix), another is the invisible man or the ring of Gyges (which sounds exactly like the ring in the Lord of the Ring stories).

Around the last parts is a discussion on States, Governments, and their equivalent people.
"States are as men are; they grow out of human character."
The four states being Timocracy, Oligarchy, Democracy and Tyranny with their corresponding human character.
The Timocratic youth is a rebellious youth. The Oligarchical man is an avaricious man. The Democratic man is a discerning man; thinking and deciding. The Tyrannical man is a man lawlessly unbounded, powerful yet devoid of wisdom.
In parallel with the human characters, they explore how one state derives from the excesses of the other. With Aristocracy as a starting point, one ruled by a Philosopher-King guided by wisdom, a Timocracy devolves when the original social structures break down. This becomes ruled by warriors or generals (like Sparta). Honor is the guiding principle. The extreme creates a spirit of contention and ambition. An Oligarchy rises when this spirit of honor is replaced by an Accumulation of Wealth, creating a division between the rich and the poor. When this division widens, an uprising begins; calling for Freedom. Democracy is put in place. Liberty reigns. Populism rises. With populism centered, it becomes easily manipulated by a demagogue, appearing to allay fears of another oligarchy. This leader consolidates influence and power, giving rise to a tyranny.

Plato may be surprised at the kinds of governments now, if he were alive today. He may have different models of States factoring in economic systems, such as Capitalism or Socialism.

The takeaway I get from this is that we have come a long way as a generation of thinkers, while the drives within us remain the same. And yeah, we still fight one another from time to time for different reasons. Maybe, that's just how we are.  Nonetheless, we have some sense now of what our excesses may lead to. And I wonder if there were other philosophers at that time, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle may just be the ones that transcended time. 


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