Hello, I'm Dr. Anadale. I teach
philosophy at Mount St. Mary's
University in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
This video summarizes the last two thirds of
Republic Book Two. In Book One we were
introduced to the quest for the true
definition of justice, and we had Thrasymachus
give his very bold assertion
that justice is merely the advantage of
the stronger. The first third of Book Two
is Glaucon's Challenge, in which the brothers
Glaucon and Adeimantus take over
Thrasymachus' position, giving it a clearer
and more disciplined expression.
They then challenge Socrates to defeat this view
by showing how justice is beneficial to
a person, independently of its reputation.
Socrates begins his reply at 368d
by introducing the Political Metaphor.
He proposes to examine the nature of
justice in a city, which is larger and
easier to observe than a soul.
We can then see what this will tell us
about justice in the soul. The idea is
that will we will be better able to see
what justice is when it is writ large in the city.
Note that this method assumes that
political justice and justice in the soul
are the same thing, just on different scales.
This is an assumption that will
be challenged by Machiavelli in the Renaissance.
Socrates begins by examining
the origin of a city,
supposing that this will also allow us
to see the origin of Justice. At 369b, he
observes that cities are founded
because no individual is self-sufficient,
so we need other people if we're going
to flourish and survive. My first
reading question for you is: Make a list
of the features of the Healthy City.
(Look around 369-372 for the answer.)
Glaucon objects, though, to Socrates'
account, saying that people in the city
"should recline on proper couches...
dine at tables, and have
the relishes and desserts that people
have nowadays." It seems that Glaucon
wants Socrates to describe the Luxurious City.
Socrates agrees, and says in examining
the Luxurious City we might discover,
not just the origin of justice,
but also the origin of injustice.
Note that the Healthy City
Socrates initially describes is the true city,
and the one described in the rest
of Republic is feverish: it's excessive,
it goes beyond the requirements of human nature somehow.
The Luxurious City will require new goods and occupations,
including jewelry and hunters, musicians,
and additional servants. Because it
contains so much more than the Healthy City,
the Luxurious City will require
an army to protect it from its enemies and
to secure resources for it.
The ideal city, then, will need a specialized class
of people to serve in the army, and these
are called the Guardians. This sets up
the final part of Book Two: the discussion
of the character and education of the
Guardians. The conversation turns to who
will serve in the army, the Guardians,
and what they must be like
in order to guard the city well.
My second reading question for you is:
What traits must a Guardian have?
(Look around 375 for the answer.)
The city therefore must train the Guardians
to have these specific traits, so that they
can do their job well.
Socrates, Glaucon, and Adeimantus then
discuss what the education of the
guardians must be like. Education in
music and poetry will come first, to
train their minds, and then physical training.
As children, the future guardians
will be told stories of gods and heroes.
At 377b, Socrates observes
that these stories about the gods are
especially important, because children's
minds are malleable, and wrong ideas that
they learn while young may distort
their character and make them unable to
function as proper guardians for the city.
Socrates argues that the young guardians
must be told only fine and beautiful
stories and the city must not permit the
telling of false stories about the gods.
Thus the ideal city will have to
practice some kind of official censorship.
Poets cannot tell just any stories
they want about the gods;
they must tell true stories and stories that
improve the virtue and patriotism of the Guardians,
because the health of the entire city
depends upon this. In short, the art of
the poets and the dramatists must be
obedient to the philosophers' insights
into the truth of things, says Socrates.
Pay special attention to the specific
stories that Socrates says would be
prohibited in the ideal city, and his
criteria for describing the gods properly.
This brings us to the end of Book Two.
There's much more still to say about the
ideal city, about its guardians and
their education and training.
This is material for the next books.
Thanks for watching today; goodbye.