Plato's The Republic Book 1-4

A detailed Summary of Plato's The Republic Book 1-4

Book One of "The Republic" opens up with a discussion between Socrates and Cephalus, Polemarchu's father, about old age and wealth. Cephalus conveys to Socrates that he believes being wealthy does not necessarily make you a happier person, but being wealthy makes it simpler to lead a good or moral life. Cephalus is quoted as follows,"It's in this connection that wealth is most valuable, I'd say, not for every man but for a decent an orderly one. Wealth can do a lot to save us from having to cheat or deceive someone against our will from having to depart for that other place in fear because we sacrifice to a good or money to a person. It has many other uses, but, benefit for benefit, I'd say that this is how it is most useful to a man of any understanding". Socrates argues this statement of opinion by Cephalus, by saying that if living a just life is simply just telling the truth or giving back your debts, than that can sometimes be the wrong or unjust thing to do. He gives the example of borrowing a knife from a friend, who eventually comes back for his knife but looks full of rage and has intentions of wrong-doing, than giving him the knife back which you owe him is certainly the wrong thing to do. Cephalus, not really intereste

d in carrying on the argument exits from the conversation and his son, Polemarchus, protests Socrates argument and goes on to give his various definitions of what "Justice" actually means. Polemarchus initial definition was giving everyone what is appropriate or right to them, and it is not appropriate to give harmful things to your friends. Summarizing his definition, he is saying, Justice is pleasing your friends and harming your enemies. Socrates attacks this definition arguing that you shouldn't return evil with evil because it is not just to pose harm to anyone.

Finally we have arrived at Book Four in which Socrates talks about the purpose of finding the state was not to make the rulers happy but to make the community as an entirety happy. He also says we can't possibly find justice in a society where one class dominates and has all the advantages over another class. But he also states that we need to avoid two extremes: extreme wealth and extreme poverty, like if a craftsmen becomes extremely wealthy and doesn't want to practice his trade anymore. For example say a plumber wins the lottery and he wants to give up plumbing and this contagiously occurs our state will suffer. Socrates then goes on and feels he has found this ideal state he has been pursuing. He says since it's a perfect society we should have four great virtues of wisdom, courage, discipline, and justice. The last point in Book Four I want to touch on is the "Physical States of the Soul", Socrates discusses which are the Body and the Soul. The soul is composed of three parts, the Rational (Wisdom), the Spiritual (Courage), and the Appetitive (Biological Needs). Socrates says the Soul is the leader among the two, and a state of disease occurs when the soul is diseased, and a state of Justice is achieved when the soul is healthy.

Socrates starts to answer Glaucon by giving a comparison, which was "The investigation we're undertaking is not an easy one but requires keen eyesight, we were to read small letters from a distance and then noticed that the same letters existed elsewhere in a larger size and on a larger

Some common words found in the essay are:
Book Socrates, Cephalus Polemarchu's, Thrasymachus I'll, Justice Thrasymachus, Book Plato, Justice Justice, Socrates Thrasymachus, Gods Heroes, Socrates Soul, Justice Socrates, book socrates, children future, definition justice, socrates talks, representational form, saying justice, socrates attacks, argument thrasymachus, socrates argument, argument justice,

Approximate Word count = 1417
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English