Part III: Books V, VI, & VII

The Beginning of Book V: Page 229 through Page 242 left column (line 449 through
line 471C)
Digression on the abolition of the family, general equality of female & male Guardians
and their life in the common (community child rearing, communal physical training &
meals, parental anonymity, and treatment of non-Athenian Greeks in War.

Just skim this section We will not treat in class. We will

emphasize the end of Book V after line 471C through the end of
Book VII. See below.
_____________________________________________________________
Last few pages of Book V (471C) through the End of Book VII
Central political argument of Republic beginning with Philosopher-King
Paradox of why philosophers must be kings (471 C - 474 B)
242 right, bottom
Whats the smallest change that would enable our city to reach our sort of constitution
described in Part II (Books II, III, IV, and most of V)
Unless a Philosopher-King is to rule, that is, until political power and philosophy
entirely coincide. . . cities will have no rest from evils, Glaucon, nor, I think, will the
human race
Plato felt philosophy and politics were ever-diverging since the Age of Pericles
Philosopher Defined & The World of Opinion v The World of Wisdom (V 474 B V 480)
Philosopher loves all wisdom, not just the more entertain appearances of wisdom or new
exciting ideas Dionysian festivals, rhetoric, power, sights, or music (244 left). Such
people can only see the outward appearances that constitute OPINION or BELIEF.
Philosopher can see the nature of these OPINIONS/APPEARANCES. Philosopher can
see beyond the outwards appearance to the FORMS that comprise KNOWLEDGE.
See p. 246 right, middle, for the distinction between those who have opinions and the philosopher

Doxa = belief or opinion

That which seems to exist (appearances, events)
that which seems true (opinions, beliefs)
that which seems right (laws, conventional morality)
Sopia represents the higher two forms of knowledge. Socrates says if you are a
philosopher you love wisdom and want to go outside the cave. Develop a more concrete
idea of what a democracy means in a more abstract, more general, or scientific sense. If
you a philodoxical, a person who loves outside appearances, you are going to look at one
specific democracy and you will only see that particular democracy. That is all you will
see, that becomes a belief, but you lack the ability to see the invisible thing, the more
abstract thing, the concept of democracy which may have many outward appearances. To
be able to see it as an idea or a concept (Platos term is form); the form is the invisible
realm, the inteligible round, and that will only come through sustained study (he even
says slaved study/rigor). We have to go beyond the beauty we see and look for the beauty
that is hidden; that is represented in the ideal form or the ideal concept. This concept is
the heart of the critique against the sophists.
Doxa varies from place to place and from era to era
Philodoxical Inquiry:
those who study the many beautiful things but do not see the beautiful itself and are
incapable of following another who leads them to it, [and] who see many just things but
not the just itself Such people have opinions or beliefs. They opine; they do not
have true knowledge or wisdom.
Philosophical Inquiry The ones who in each case study the things themselves that are
always the same in every respect.
Philosophers must not be dilettantes, flitting from one empirical result (appearance) to the
next the sophist look like they are passionate about knowledge and learning, but they are
unwilling to go beyond the world of expierence, and for true knowledge you must go
beyond.
The end of book five, Socrates tell us this book is a painting.
Dont you think that the true captain, in a society, or a boat, does not abstract knowledge.
The true captain would be called a real star gazer, a babbler, by those who sail the ship.
Book VI
VI-1 Philosophers Fitness for Ruling (484 A 487 A)
But arent philosophers ridiculous men, with their heads in the air? Arent they least fit to
govern?

Philosophers can grasp what remains the same (theory, Forms)

Criteria for Philosophical Fitness: 4 Cardinal virtues, Gracefulness, Seeks Truth, highmindedness, quick learner, good memory
VI-2 Philosophic Persons Are Corrupted in Existing Athenian Society (487 B - 497 A)
No existing form of society is congenial to philosophy - Existing societies have no use
for Philosophers
Athens valorizes the Sophists, who fit the definition of Philodoxical to a T They live
in the world of appearances and teach rhetoric (communications & persuasion skills with
no moral sense).
What effect do the Sophists have on ones education? (251)
This is the first time in the dialogue that Thrasymachus and other sophists are mentioned.
How does Plato describe them? (252)
What will happen to people with philosophic temperaments?
In Athens of the day, where can one find the true philosophers? What are they doing do
they want or have political power? (253 left, 254)
VI-3 Philosopher-King Not Impossible (497 A 502 C)
How will the Philosopher act in the founding city of The Republic?
Rather than practice philosophy as a hobby, one should train in athletics and politics.
Then, when they have retired from politics and military service, they freely in the
pastures of philosophy and do nothing else (254)
Difficult to find such a man to rule, but not impossible
Plato alludes to his hopes that a despot might be enlightened, or a Philosopher King
trained at his Academy might emerge
Plato may be thinking of Dion of Syracuse whom he met in 388-387
If the people can adduce the importance of love of wisdom, they might accept the
constitution of an enlightened monarch
Philosopher-King uses the fixed Form of an ideal constitution Works as an artist
VI-4 The Good as Illumination of all Knowledge (502 C 509 C)
Philosopher-Rulers will be chosen from the Guardian Class

The Good is analogous to the Sun.

The Sun illuminates the world outside the cave, just as Goodness illuminates the
unchanging Forms and Theories that constitute Wisdom.
Goodness may be thought of as a kind of divine voice within (daemon) associated
with the use of what we today call reason.
Socrates doesnt define Goodness; only a long period of training, experience, and age
itself would allow one to define it.
VI-5 Allegory of the Divided Line and the 4 Phases of Thought (509 D 511 E)
Understand the distinction between Doxa (the world of opinions and appearances) and
Sophia (the world of knowledge and wisdom, on the other side of the divided line.
The world of doxa (appearances) (including beliefs and conventions) corresponds to the
world of the cave in the next section.
The world of sophia (knowledge/wisdom) (including the Forms and Goodness)
corresponds to world outside the cave in the next section.
Socrates wants the philosopher to distance himself as much as possible from the world of
appearances and the social world of people, the better to perceive Goodness and the other
forms on the non-worldly theoretical (doxa) side of the divided line, where absolute
truth and sophia can be found.
4 Modes of Cognition in the Soul:
INTELLIGIBLE REALM
------------------------Understanding (Use of dialectic required Highest form of training for Philosopher)
------------Thought
------------------------Belief
------------Imaging (Imagining)
------------------------VISIBLE REALM
Book VII Focus on first and last section (VII-1 & VII-2)
Pay special attention the first section, on the allegory of the cave, from 514 A 521 B.
You can skim through 535 A in Book VII.
Read the last section (535 A 541 B), which completes the main argument of the
Republic on the Philosopher-King.

VII-1 Allegory of the Cave (514 A 521 B)

The Four Cognitive States
INTELLIGIBLE REALM
------------------------Understanding (sopia)
------------Thought

(sopia)

Cave Analogy

Finally, one can see the heavenly bodies and the sun
itself. The last illumination.
Real Objects in Everyday Life are intelligible
after one has adjusted to the blinding light of the sun

------------------------Opinion/Belief
(doxia)
model
------------Imaging/Base Beliefs (identification) (doxia)

Artefacts on Cave Road (statuettes,

animals, puppets, etc.)
Shadows of the Artefacts on
the Cave Road
projected onto Cave

Wall
------------------------VISIBLE REALM
- The World of Appearances == The Cave
- Most people live in doxa (the cave)
- The mind is shackled by the body, just as the prisoner is shackled in the cave, and only
has access to the imaging/base beliefs mode of cognition
- Moral: Exposure to the Good (Sun) too quickly is stupefying One becomes a sophist
Plato requires ten years of training in higher mathematics PRIOR to training in dialectic
1) Would the Guardian Rulers who had reached Understanding envy those among the
prisoners who held power? (263, LM)
2) Would the Philosopher who had reached Understanding be deemed a madman?
3) Is Education like putting knowledge into empty souls (putting sight in blind eyes)?
Do you agree with Socrates/Plato on this? (264 LM)
4) Is it unjust to ask Philosophers to return to the Cave? Why/Why Not? (264 RB)
5) If Philosophers dont want political power, why should they rule?
VII-2 Higher Education (521 C 531 C) (Age 20-30)
Mathematics, Arithmetic, Geometry, Solid Geometry, Astronomy, & Harmonics
Abstract study turn the minds eye away from the visible world to the intelligible world

Corresponds to emergence from cave and the ability to see shadows and reflections of
real things.
Aristotles later emphasis on empirical inquiry is in strong contrast with Platos insistence
that the seeker of knowledge flee the world of visible reality.
Modern scientific method of discerning universal laws through Empirical observation and
analysis of cause and effect was unknown to the Greeks.
At the start of VII-2, Socrates asks, what is to draw the soul from the realm of becoming
to the realm of what is?
Continues to stress the unchanging, fixed nature of mathematical objects in Geometry
and Solid Geometry
Astronomy & Harmonics: Need to discern the unchanging aspect of motion and
musical consonances.
Plato is not concerned with the physical sciences, as Aristotle came to be. Platos interest
here is developing the Philosophers 3rd State of Cognition. This is training the mind to
think abstractly, in preparation for the 4th Phase, where the Philosopher will apprehend
Goodness.
VII-3 Training in the Dialectic (531 C 535 A) (Age 30-35)
Corresponds with an ability to see actual objects and the Sun.
A synoptic view of all the abstract knowledge learned in the 20s.
Question and Answer leading to definitions; What Is Questions; Refutation/Elenchus
Allows for apprehension of Forms & Goodness itself
VII-4 Program of Studies (535 A 541 B)
Curriculum at each set of filters, by age.
To Age 18: Literature, math, music as discussed in Books II & III.
First Filter: For the 2 Guardian Classes
18 20: Intense military training, no study
Second Filter: For the Rulers. Those who dont pass become soldiers/auxiliaries
20-30: Mathematics as discussed in VII-2
30-35: Dialectic, including morality. Cannot be entered into too early.
35-50: Return to the Cave. Learn again how to see in darkness, return to world of action,
and take up public service.
50- : Full understanding of Good. Alternation of study and ruling as Philosopher-King or
on the Supreme Council. Philosopher-King can now recraft the City.

END PART III, END BOOK VII