Plato I

His Moral Theory,

Or Why Ignorance is not Bliss or even moral

Preliminaries

• Library courses (see Library web pg)

• Where to find course info

• Where to find the discussion board

• Note on the texts—– Plato and Aristotle’s works are demarcated by

paragraph numbers and letters

• ‘BCE’

Discussion Board

http://www.hku.hk/discuspro/messages/board-topics.html

‘School of Humanities’

Plato (427-347 BCE)

Who was Plato?

• A wealthy Athenian, and citizen of leisure;

• Student of Socrates

• Republic and Laws expound his political and moral philosophy, and his theory of knowledge;

• Founded the Academy, an important philosophical institution.

Athens: Agora and Acropolis

Plato

• Critic of the Athenian democracy; – disillusioned during the Peloponnesian War

(430-404);– believed democracy fosters rule of the

ignorant, immoral masses.

• Critic of the Sophists, who taught the art of argumentation for high fees:– = Thrasymachus in Republic, a moral cynic.

Who was Socrates?(latter half 5th century BCE)

• Athenian stonemason,– rich enough to be a hoplite (foot soldier—e.g.

in film ‘300’);– details of his life practically unknown;– teacher of Plato, Xenophon and others;– not everyone revered him, however.

Socrates

• Mocked in Aristophanes’ play, The Clouds (423 BCE)

• Aristophanes says Socrates does not understand – political realities, e.g. our need for family and

city;– human nature: overestimates rationality;– what the gods are.

Socrates

• Found guilty in 399 BCE of impiety (debasing the gods) and corrupting youth;

• Ordered by Athenian court to commit suicide by drinking hemlock;

• Major speaker in several of Plato’s dialogues, including Republic, and Apology;

• Legacy: ‘Socratic ignorance’, ‘Socratic method’, ‘philosopher-kings’.

Republic (Politeia, Gr. = constitution)

• Greek concept of ‘constitution’– not limited to political institutions, e.g.– executive, legislature, judiciary – included education, culture—poetry, music;– Comprises entire way of life, e.g. Constitution

of the Lacedaemonians (Sparta); – Could be entirely unwritten, e.g. Sparta– unlike HK Basic Law, U.S. Constitution.

Map of Ancient Greece

Republic

• Plato’s greatest dialogue;

• One of the world’s great philosophical works;

• Structure: dialogue among several speakers, including Socrates;

• Key question: what is morality/justice?

• How is it cultivated or produced?

Context of Republic

• Loss of clear moral authority in late 5th century Athens

• Traditional hierarchy of nature questioned

• Democritus (ca. 460-370 BCE), father of atomic theory:– all matter = indivisible particles– particles are identical; no one is superior to

any of the others by nature.

Context of Republic

• Rejection of traditional moral teaching:– Represented by Cephalus, the retired

businessman (328c-331d):• Help friends• Tell the truth• Repay debts; • Socrates’ objection: what if you borrowed a knife,

but return it to the lender, who has gone mad, and poses a menace to others?

• Socrates is therefore going to go beyond tradition in his justification of morality.

Conventional view on morality

• ‘Good guys finish last’:– Immoral conduct confers benefits to oneself

(wealth, power, partners)– Morality is good for others, but bad for oneself– You should protect your own interests;– Not those of others at the expense of your

own (338c)!

Thrasymachus’ attack on morality of Cephalus

• A sophist, teacher of argumentation

• ‘Sophistry’ denotes arguments that sound persuasive but are based on questionable premises or logic;

• Thrasymachus’s position: – Might is right; justice = interest of stronger – Be a dictator: get all the power, money, and

human subjects that you can!

Thrasymachus 338c-e

• “My claim is that morality is nothing other than the advantage of the stronger party…”

• “Each government passes laws to its own advantage…”

• “this is what I claim morality is: it is the same in every country, and is what is to the advantage of the current government.”

Counter-argument

• But one does not want to be the victim of others’ immoral behavior;

• Socrates’ position:– Being moral is like being expert at an art (medicine) or

craft (house-building, stonemasonry);– An expert does what most benefits the production or

person being cared for;– S/he strives to be good at what s/he does;– Not what is best for him/herself (making money,

gaining power).

Ring of Gyges

• Gyges obtains a ring that makes him invisible (recall Tolkien);

• He uses it to evil ends:– Gyges seduces the king’s wife, and kills the

king, thereby becoming king himself.

• If you could be invisible like Gyges

• What would you do?

• Would you behave morally or immorally?

Modern version:

Woody Allen,

Crimes and MisdemeanorsReserve: AV 791.43 C929 A

Synopsis of Crimes and Misdemeanors:

A seemingly good, law-abiding family man and successful professional commits a murder with no risk of being caught.

What is Plato’s approach?

• Republic arises from deficiencies in Socrates’ initial argument w/ Thrasymachus;

• A ‘city in speech’ (hypothetical solution)• Major problem = plurality, e.g. rich vs poor;• City needs to be unified, not divided;

– 3 groups of citizens: philosopher-rulers, guardians, ordinary workers;

– each performs his/her assigned task;– analogy with the 3 parts of the soul: reason, spirit and

appetite.