platos republic

Question 1

What does Plato want to do in the Republic?

Answer 1

He want’s to define justice

Question 2

What is specialisation?

Answer 2

Requires each person to fulfil the societal role to which nature fitted them into

Question 3

What are the 3 parts of the soul?

Answer 3

Rational, spirited, appetitive

Question 4

What does the rational part of the soul do?

Answer 4

Seeks truth + philosophy

Question 5

What does the spirited part of the soul do?

Answer 5

Desires honour + is resp. for feelings of anger

Question 6

What does appetitive part of the soul do?

Answer 6

Desires for anything - mostly money

Question 7

What are the realms divided into?

Answer 7

Visible + intelligible

Question 8

What’s the visible world?

Answer 8

The universe around us

Question 9

What’s the intelligible world?

Answer 9

The forms: abstract
Absolute goodness + beauty etc

Question 10

Who can grasp the forms?

Answer 10

Only minds trained to grasp the forms - philosophers

Question 11

What’s the most important form?

Answer 11

The form of good

Question 12

What’s the aim of education?

Answer 12

Put right desires into the soul so it desires to move past visible world + to intelligible world to the Form of Good

Question 13

What did Plato believe about poets?

Answer 13

Appeal to the basest part of the soul, imitating unjust inclinations

Question 14

Why did Plato forbid homosexual intercourse?

Answer 14

Cannot be good or beautiful + leads to no fulfilment - doesn’t lead to procreation

Question 15

What was the mating festival

Answer 15

Held among Guardians, where rulers decide which couples should mate in order to breed ‘good’ citizens

Question 16

Who were the guardian class?

Answer 16

A group of warriors + philosophers

Question 17

Who did Plato separate the guardian class from?

Answer 17

Guardian class separated from producers

Question 18

Who were the 3 classes?

Answer 18

Guardians, producers (auxiliaries) + wokers

Question 19

What was the guardian class responsible for?

Answer 19

Responsible for ruling the city - chosen among ranks of auxiliaries

Question 20

What did Plato intend to give to the guardians?

Answer 20

Give the guardians supreme power

Question 21

Where are men + women in spheres?

Answer 21

Women in private spheres
Men in public spheres

Question 22

What did women do in their spheres?

Answer 22

Looked after children

Question 23

What did men do in their spheres?

Answer 23

They went to war, manual labour + acted politically

Question 24

How did Plato view the body?

Answer 24

Merely temporary

Question 25

What did Plato say human beings are defined by?

Answer 25

Their soul: responsible for cognitive + physical movements + survives them

Question 26

How is the soul divided to match society's functional groups?

Answer 26

Rational = Guardian (philosopher kings) Spirited = Warriors Appetitive = Workers

Question 27

What did Plato say about women + war?

Answer 27

If women's aggressive part of the soul inspires courage, they may be able to defend their city

Question 28

What are women considered?

Answer 28

Objects of reproduction

Question 29

What was exposure?

Answer 29

The elimination of inapt children

Question 30

Why might Plato place women on the same level as men?

Answer 30

Because he believes humans are defined more by their soul

Question 31

What happened to children produced at mating festivals?

Answer 31

They were taken from their parents so no one knows which children descend from which adults

Question 32

What happens if a child is produced from sex at an undesignated time?

Answer 32

The child will be killed

Question 33

What do guardians do/not receive?

Answer 33

No wages + can hold no wealth or property

Question 33

How do the Guardian class live?

Answer 33

Together in housing provided by the city

Question 34

What does Brown say about what Plato believed?

Answer 34

"Plato believed the abolition of family would improve cohesion of society as a whole"

Question 35

What does Plato attempt to argue for?

Answer 35

An 'ideal state'

Question 36

How does Plato discuss eros?

Answer 36

Only brief + in passing Seems reluctant to engage w the concept Can cause political corruption/influence

Question 37

What should citizens of Plato's ideal state not be allowed?

Answer 37

Not allowed to indulge in sexual pleasure bc it's a form of madness/insanity + lack of discipline Permitted only for procreation

Question 38

Who does Plato permit non-procreative eros for?

Answer 38

Older couples past fertility Possibly bc they're less likely to be corrupted by eros

Question 39

Why did Plato want to eliminate familial relationships?

Answer 39

Bc it can lead to favouritism; ppl feel a connection to their own offspring + will be likely to try and help them succeed just bc they're related (NEPOTISM)

Question 40

Why did Plato want parenthood to be anonymous?

Answer 40

People view any children of the right age to be their biological child + children treat any adult of a certain age to be their parents as if they were

Question 41

What was the example of red in terms of the Forms?

Answer 41

Anything red is red bc it participates in the Form of Red

Question 42

What makes philosophers different to lovers of sights + sounds?

Answer 42

Philosophers apprehend (catch) Forms