Download Western Classical Thought and Culture

Classical Western Thought
Plato and His Republic
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1. Plato’s life
Born in 428 or 427 B.C into an aristocratic Athenian
family.
Became a student of Socrates.
After Socrates’ death, he decided to devote all his
energies to philosophy.
After traveling a while, he returned to Athens and
founded a school, the Academy, the first university in the
Western world.
Among the most famous of his works was the Republic.
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2. Plato’s Task
Like his teacher Socrates, Plato had an intense interest
in ethical questions.
Socrates’ fate also taught him that good people will not
survive unless society itself is reformed.
Therefore, political philosophy was also a major concern
in Plato’s works.
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3. Plato’s writing style: Dialogue
Dialogue vs. treatise: why does Plato write dialogues?
 Popular writing? – to make his works popular couldn’t be the
only reason that Plato wrote in dialogues.
 a convenient format to the aim of philosophy – final truth
--final truth is not known, ineffable, context-dependent
--dialogue: record the process of struggles, introduce the context
and both sides of the issue.
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4. The Republic
The questions of the Republic:
• The central questions: What is justice? Is justice choiceworthy in
itself or only for accessory advantage? What the best life and the
best state?
• Interesting and outrageous ideas: philosopher-king; censorship
of poetry and music; equality of man and woman; no private
property and community of wives and children…
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