Injustice In Polis And Person Flashcards
Plato thinks the character of the polis will be determined by
The character of the majority of people within it
From just to timocratic
Mixing with the wrong sorts of people, the just person becomes split eventually becoming honour loving
Timocratic character and problems
Honour-loving, the rulers begin to exploit the producers to further their own interest, torn between rational and appetitive parts, already creating conflict
From timocratic to oligarchic
Honour begins to track wealth, character becomes dominated by love of money
Oligarchic character and problems
Money-loving, people respect only wealth, POS ignored, stratification of rich and poor
Oligarchic to democratic
All the other appetites, suppressed by the pursuit of wealth, burst forward, previously neglected appetites are satisfied
Problems with democracy
Every appetite (person) and every citizen (polis) share equally in control There is no unity or virtues The democratic character has no proper control, the polis has no shared interest
From democratic to tyrannical
All appetites equal and without proper control, eventually all control is lost, leading to anarchy and madness
The strongest, insatiable passions rise up and dominate
Tyrannical character and problems
No stable love, insatiably lustful
Everyone in the polis is a slave to tyranny
The person is a complete slave to their own desires
When unity is lost, integrity as a whole is lost
Image of the unjust soul
The beast within: the life of injustice is a life of uncontrolled slavery to the beasts within
What is it supposed to show
That, as opposed to the life of injustice, the life of justice is a life of freedom and happiness for the person as a whole, they do not give in to the beasts within
Plato’s response to Thrasymachus (proof 1)
The less just a person is, then the less happy the person as a whole will be
Why does Plato think justice is happier than injustice
It’s simply unavailable to the unjust person no matter what they do
It’s always available to the just person, no matter what they do
The life of justice is
A life of freedom and happiness as a whole
Worry: is Plato’s unjust person too
weak? If someone was internally tortured in the way Socrates describes, would they strong in the way T initially described?
