Plato's Republic - Part 6

A Portrait of the relationship between the human soul and political regimes

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In Part 5 of this series, we began to analyze Book One of Plato’s Republic. It is crucial to keep in mind that Book One acts as a foundation to Plato’s magnum opus, essentially “a prelude” to the entire project of the Republic. It sets the stage for everything else that will be unpacked in the rest of work.

Plato sets his dialogue up so that Socrates is “arrested” and ushered to the house of Cephalus to visit with friends. This is a clue that the key to understanding the book is in the dialectic.

Here Socrates provokes an answer from Cephalus to provide the first, and traditional, view of justice. Cephalian justice is the view that righteousness is to giving what is owed to the gods and to men. This traditional understanding of justice presupposes the meaning of truth.

So Socrates will challenge his definition by raising a case where it might be unjust to give a man what is owed him, e.g., give a friend his weapon back when he is not of sound mind. But when Socrates begins to engage in elenchus, Cephalus hands the conversation off to his heir, Polemarchus, and returns to his sacrifices.

This device allows Socrates to move past traditional Athenian wisdom because traditionalists are typically unwilling to critique their own presuppositions, which is what Socrates wants to do. In any case, Socrates cleverly dismisses Cephalus and turns to his son, Polemarchus, to continue his elenchus about justice.

Plato Surrounded by his Students at the Academy