Plato's Ethics and Politics in \textlessem\textgreaterThe Republic\textless/em\textgreater. Brown, E. In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, Fall 2017 edition, 2017. tex.ids= brown_platos_2017-1![Plato's Ethics and Politics in \textlessem\textgreaterThe Republic\textless/em\textgreater [link]](https://bibbase.org/img/filetypes/link.svg "link")
Paper abstract bibtex Plato’s Republic centers on a simple question: is it alwaysbetter to be just than unjust? The puzzles in Book One prepare forthis question, and Glaucon and Adeimantus make it explicit at thebeginning of Book Two. To answer the question, Socrates takes a longway around, sketching an account of a good city on the grounds that agood city would be just and that defining justice as a virtue of acity would help to define justice as a virtue of a human being.Socrates is finally close to answering the question after hecharacterizes justice as a personal virtue at the end of Book Four,but he is interrupted and challenged to defend some of the morecontroversial features of the good city he has sketched. In Books Fivethrough Seven, he addresses this challenge, arguing (in effect) thatthe just city and the just human being as he has sketched them are infact good and are in principle possible. After this long digression,Socrates in Books Eight and Nine finally delivers three“proofs” that it is always better to be just thanunjust. Then, because Socrates wants not only to show that it isalways better to be just but also to convince Glaucon and Adeimantusof this point, and because Socrates’ proofs are opposed by theteachings of poets, he bolsters his case in Book Ten by indicting thepoets’ claims to represent the truth and by offering a new myth thatis consonant with his proofs., As this overview makes clear, the center of Plato’s Republicis a contribution to ethics: a discussion of what the virtue justice is and why a person should be just. Yet because Socrates links his discussion of personal justice to an account of justice in the city and makes claims about how good and bad cities are arranged, the Republic sustains reflections on political questions, as well. Not that ethics and politics exhaust the concerns of the Republic. The account in Books Five through Seven of how a just city and a just person are in principle possible is an account of how knowledge can rule, which includes discussion of what knowledge and its objects are. Moreover, the indictment of the poets involves a wide-ranging discussion of art. This article, however, focuses on the ethics and politics of Plato’s Republic. For more on what the Republic says about knowledge and its objects, see Plato: middle period metaphysics and epistemology, and for more about the discussion of the poets, see Plato: rhetoric and poetry. , This article attempts to provide a constructive guide to the main issues of ethics and politics in the Republic. Two assumptions shape its organization. First, it assumes that an accountof ethics and politics in the Republic requires a preliminary understanding of the question Socrates is facing and the strategy Socrates uses to answer the question. Second, it assumes that politics in the Republic is based upon the moral psychology in the Republic, and thus that the former is moreprofitably discussed after the latter. With these assumptions in place, the following outline unfolds:
@incollection{brown_platos_2017,
edition = {Fall 2017},
title = {Plato's {Ethics} and {Politics} in {\textless}em{\textgreater}{The} {Republic}{\textless}/em{\textgreater}},
url = {https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2017/entries/plato-ethics-politics/},
abstract = {Plato’s Republic centers on a simple question: is it alwaysbetter to be just than unjust? The puzzles in Book One prepare forthis question, and Glaucon and Adeimantus make it explicit at thebeginning of Book Two. To answer the question, Socrates takes a longway around, sketching an account of a good city on the grounds that agood city would be just and that defining justice as a virtue of acity would help to define justice as a virtue of a human being.Socrates is finally close to answering the question after hecharacterizes justice as a personal virtue at the end of Book Four,but he is interrupted and challenged to defend some of the morecontroversial features of the good city he has sketched. In Books Fivethrough Seven, he addresses this challenge, arguing (in effect) thatthe just city and the just human being as he has sketched them are infact good and are in principle possible. After this long digression,Socrates in Books Eight and Nine finally delivers three“proofs” that it is always better to be just thanunjust. Then, because Socrates wants not only to show that it isalways better to be just but also to convince Glaucon and Adeimantusof this point, and because Socrates’ proofs are opposed by theteachings of poets, he bolsters his case in Book Ten by indicting thepoets’ claims to represent the truth and by offering a new myth thatis consonant with his proofs., As this overview makes clear, the center of Plato’s Republicis a contribution to ethics: a discussion of what the virtue justice is and why a person should be just. Yet because Socrates links his discussion of personal justice to an account of justice in the city and makes claims about how good and bad cities are arranged, the Republic sustains reflections on political questions, as well. Not that ethics and politics exhaust the concerns of the Republic. The account in Books Five through Seven of how a just city and a just person are in principle possible is an account of how knowledge can rule, which includes discussion of what knowledge and its objects are. Moreover, the indictment of the poets involves a wide-ranging discussion of art. This article, however, focuses on the ethics and politics of Plato’s Republic. For more on what the Republic says about knowledge and its objects, see Plato: middle period metaphysics and epistemology, and for more about the discussion of the poets, see Plato: rhetoric and poetry. , This article attempts to provide a constructive guide to the main issues of ethics and politics in the Republic. Two assumptions shape its organization. First, it assumes that an accountof ethics and politics in the Republic requires a preliminary understanding of the question Socrates is facing and the strategy Socrates uses to answer the question. Second, it assumes that politics in the Republic is based upon the moral psychology in the Republic, and thus that the former is moreprofitably discussed after the latter. With these assumptions in place, the following outline unfolds:},
urldate = {2022-03-22},
booktitle = {The {Stanford} {Encyclopedia} of {Philosophy}},
publisher = {Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University},
author = {Brown, Eric},
editor = {Zalta, Edward N.},
year = {2017},
note = {tex.ids= brown\_platos\_2017-1},
}
Downloads: 0
{"_id":"2W69ywhRZ8nFeXAos","bibbaseid":"brown-platosethicsandpoliticsintextlessemtextgreatertherepublictextlessemtextgreater-2017","author_short":["Brown, E."],"bibdata":{"bibtype":"incollection","type":"incollection","edition":"Fall 2017","title":"Plato's Ethics and Politics in \\textlessem\\textgreaterThe Republic\\textless/em\\textgreater","url":"https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2017/entries/plato-ethics-politics/","abstract":"Plato’s Republic centers on a simple question: is it alwaysbetter to be just than unjust? The puzzles in Book One prepare forthis question, and Glaucon and Adeimantus make it explicit at thebeginning of Book Two. To answer the question, Socrates takes a longway around, sketching an account of a good city on the grounds that agood city would be just and that defining justice as a virtue of acity would help to define justice as a virtue of a human being.Socrates is finally close to answering the question after hecharacterizes justice as a personal virtue at the end of Book Four,but he is interrupted and challenged to defend some of the morecontroversial features of the good city he has sketched. In Books Fivethrough Seven, he addresses this challenge, arguing (in effect) thatthe just city and the just human being as he has sketched them are infact good and are in principle possible. After this long digression,Socrates in Books Eight and Nine finally delivers three“proofs” that it is always better to be just thanunjust. Then, because Socrates wants not only to show that it isalways better to be just but also to convince Glaucon and Adeimantusof this point, and because Socrates’ proofs are opposed by theteachings of poets, he bolsters his case in Book Ten by indicting thepoets’ claims to represent the truth and by offering a new myth thatis consonant with his proofs., As this overview makes clear, the center of Plato’s Republicis a contribution to ethics: a discussion of what the virtue justice is and why a person should be just. Yet because Socrates links his discussion of personal justice to an account of justice in the city and makes claims about how good and bad cities are arranged, the Republic sustains reflections on political questions, as well. Not that ethics and politics exhaust the concerns of the Republic. The account in Books Five through Seven of how a just city and a just person are in principle possible is an account of how knowledge can rule, which includes discussion of what knowledge and its objects are. Moreover, the indictment of the poets involves a wide-ranging discussion of art. This article, however, focuses on the ethics and politics of Plato’s Republic. For more on what the Republic says about knowledge and its objects, see Plato: middle period metaphysics and epistemology, and for more about the discussion of the poets, see Plato: rhetoric and poetry. , This article attempts to provide a constructive guide to the main issues of ethics and politics in the Republic. Two assumptions shape its organization. First, it assumes that an accountof ethics and politics in the Republic requires a preliminary understanding of the question Socrates is facing and the strategy Socrates uses to answer the question. Second, it assumes that politics in the Republic is based upon the moral psychology in the Republic, and thus that the former is moreprofitably discussed after the latter. With these assumptions in place, the following outline unfolds:","urldate":"2022-03-22","booktitle":"The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy","publisher":"Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University","author":[{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Brown"],"firstnames":["Eric"],"suffixes":[]}],"editor":[{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Zalta"],"firstnames":["Edward","N."],"suffixes":[]}],"year":"2017","note":"tex.ids= brown_platos_2017-1","bibtex":"@incollection{brown_platos_2017,\n\tedition = {Fall 2017},\n\ttitle = {Plato's {Ethics} and {Politics} in {\\textless}em{\\textgreater}{The} {Republic}{\\textless}/em{\\textgreater}},\n\turl = {https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2017/entries/plato-ethics-politics/},\n\tabstract = {Plato’s Republic centers on a simple question: is it alwaysbetter to be just than unjust? The puzzles in Book One prepare forthis question, and Glaucon and Adeimantus make it explicit at thebeginning of Book Two. To answer the question, Socrates takes a longway around, sketching an account of a good city on the grounds that agood city would be just and that defining justice as a virtue of acity would help to define justice as a virtue of a human being.Socrates is finally close to answering the question after hecharacterizes justice as a personal virtue at the end of Book Four,but he is interrupted and challenged to defend some of the morecontroversial features of the good city he has sketched. In Books Fivethrough Seven, he addresses this challenge, arguing (in effect) thatthe just city and the just human being as he has sketched them are infact good and are in principle possible. After this long digression,Socrates in Books Eight and Nine finally delivers three“proofs” that it is always better to be just thanunjust. Then, because Socrates wants not only to show that it isalways better to be just but also to convince Glaucon and Adeimantusof this point, and because Socrates’ proofs are opposed by theteachings of poets, he bolsters his case in Book Ten by indicting thepoets’ claims to represent the truth and by offering a new myth thatis consonant with his proofs., As this overview makes clear, the center of Plato’s Republicis a contribution to ethics: a discussion of what the virtue justice is and why a person should be just. Yet because Socrates links his discussion of personal justice to an account of justice in the city and makes claims about how good and bad cities are arranged, the Republic sustains reflections on political questions, as well. Not that ethics and politics exhaust the concerns of the Republic. The account in Books Five through Seven of how a just city and a just person are in principle possible is an account of how knowledge can rule, which includes discussion of what knowledge and its objects are. Moreover, the indictment of the poets involves a wide-ranging discussion of art. This article, however, focuses on the ethics and politics of Plato’s Republic. For more on what the Republic says about knowledge and its objects, see Plato: middle period metaphysics and epistemology, and for more about the discussion of the poets, see Plato: rhetoric and poetry. , This article attempts to provide a constructive guide to the main issues of ethics and politics in the Republic. Two assumptions shape its organization. First, it assumes that an accountof ethics and politics in the Republic requires a preliminary understanding of the question Socrates is facing and the strategy Socrates uses to answer the question. Second, it assumes that politics in the Republic is based upon the moral psychology in the Republic, and thus that the former is moreprofitably discussed after the latter. With these assumptions in place, the following outline unfolds:},\n\turldate = {2022-03-22},\n\tbooktitle = {The {Stanford} {Encyclopedia} of {Philosophy}},\n\tpublisher = {Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University},\n\tauthor = {Brown, Eric},\n\teditor = {Zalta, Edward N.},\n\tyear = {2017},\n\tnote = {tex.ids= brown\\_platos\\_2017-1},\n}\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","author_short":["Brown, E."],"editor_short":["Zalta, E. N."],"key":"brown_platos_2017","id":"brown_platos_2017","bibbaseid":"brown-platosethicsandpoliticsintextlessemtextgreatertherepublictextlessemtextgreater-2017","role":"author","urls":{"Paper":"https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2017/entries/plato-ethics-politics/"},"metadata":{"authorlinks":{}},"downloads":0,"html":""},"bibtype":"incollection","biburl":"https://bibbase.org/zotero/daniel.r","dataSources":["bMNYYYE8ALPmpK328"],"keywords":[],"search_terms":["plato","ethics","politics","textlessem","textgreaterthe","republic","textless","textgreater","brown"],"title":"Plato's Ethics and Politics in \\textlessem\\textgreaterThe Republic\\textless/em\\textgreater","year":2017}