How Did Socrates Create An Imaginary City

In the discussion between Socrates and Glaucon that involved how to create an ideal city, they divided the people into three classes: rulers, auxiliaries, and craftsmen. In this city each class has a certain role. The rulers are the highest of rank in the city. They are older, wise men who govern the state and make decisions in the best interest of the

Answer: Before Socrates gets into these virtues, he explains that the virtues cannot exist unless the city is already "just." Justice has been taken care of. These virtues begin with wisdom which is shown by those "guardians" who oversee the city and who make sure the city runs as it has been designed to run. The second virtue, courage, is shown by those in the city who have to fight for the city if necessary; he calls them auxiliaries. The final virtue, moderation, is one that is demonstrated by all people in the city; this virtue is not characteristic of just one group such as the guardians or the auxiliaries. It is the virtue shown by those who understand how the city is justly governed and all who practice moderation agree with that decision.

Many of Socrates’ statements suggest that the moral education offered to each class is substantially different. For example, Socrates asks Glaucon, ‘In the city we’re establishing, who do you think will prove to be better men, the guardians, who receive the education we’ve described, or the cobblers, who are educated in cobblery?’ (456d). Socrates suggests that his city will be harmonized through persuasion (431e-432a) and he claims that the city will run smoothly with relatively few laws (427a). No one will ever find the need to think, speak, or behave in an unacceptable manner because they will not have the mental capability of even thinking to do such a

Although, Socrates seems to promote the idea of war when he later creates the "guardians" as the ones who will go to war and protect the city. Socrates and Glaucon agree in 374b that warfare is a profession. They go on to create a job description or profile for this second class of people in the make-believe city. Looking ahead to Book IV where Socrates concludes that a city is just when each person performs his or her own job, it would cause the city to be just when a guardian is performing his job by fighting in a war to protect the city. So here at the end of Book II,

Socrates declares that there is no one to teach people about wisdom and virtues. His conversation with Callias explains that no one can teach wisdom and virtue as there is no one that has mastered wisdom and virtue. Human beings are fallible creatures, morality, ethics and virtues are not always primarily considered in the multitude of decisions and actions that are performed every day. Humans are imperfect individuals, bound by no definitive moral code that is enforceable under any circumstance. Humans are creatures of free will and with free will comes evil and righteousness simultaneously. No one can teach a human being to always be righteous, kind, caring and generous. Socrates declares that there is no one capable of teaching all of these virtues because humans are all imperfect individuals but through inner evaluation humans can constantly strive to get closer to perfection.

In the conclusion, Socrates explains virtue is a gift from the gods that everyone should have it. An alternation to saying virtue is knowledge. Based on the reading, virtue is a true opinion. Subsequently, true opinion needs to be tied down to be knowledge. Still, true opinion is as valuable as knowledge, if it is dependable. Socrates says that we still have not scrutinized what virtue truly is.

In The Republic Book IV, pp. 130e-136d, Socrates sets out to prove that societal justice is analogous to individual justice. In order to substantiate the analogy, Socrates compares the individual and the city. As he previously defined, justice in the city involves the power relationships between the different parts of the city, namely the guardians, the auxiliaries, and the producers.

In this writing, Meno asks Socrates if virtue can be taught or is virtue the result of practice or does virtue come about in another way (70a). Meno believes that virtue is different for different actions performed and it also differs in terms of the age of the individual (72a). Socrates responds by telling me no that he does not know what qualities virtue possesses and he is ignorant to it (71b). However, virtue should take on the same form (72c), rather than being different for different actions and age of the person. Factors of virtue include justice and moderation (73b), and if people did not have the same traits of virtue, then this would mean that they are not good or virtuous in the same way (73c). During this conversation, Socrates

What arguments do Socrates and his interlocutors provide in these dialogues and what does their discussion suggest about the way in which virtue is in fact acquired? Socrates initiates the inquiries into this problem in each dialogue the same way, that is, to admit no knowledge of the subject at hand. He further admits that he could not possibly teach virtue without knowing what virtue is, “if I do not know what a thing is, how could I know what to teach?” (ho de me oida ti estin,

If we apply this to the question of virtue, which is being considered in the Meno, neither Socrates nor Meno can define virtue, and so they do not know what virtue is, therefore they can not inquire about virtue.

In Plato’s Meno, Socrates presents two different arguments in his attempt to define virtue. One of his arguments is presented in 71e-73c, where Socrates argues that virtue has unity to it and that simply giving examples of virtue will not tell us what virtue itself is. His second argument is given in 87b-89c, where Socrates presents the idea that virtue must be a kind of knowledge that makes other goods such as wealth, health or courage worthwhile. I believe that the stronger argument here is that virtue must be a kind of knowledge, because without knowledge nothing is beneficial or good in the world. Without knowledge one is more likely to make mistakes and put themselves in bad situations. Without knowledge we cannot lead a good,

In Socrates-Meno conversation, Meno asked Socrates the nature of virtue and is it something taught or it is something innate to the men. Socrates couldn’t answer his question claiming that he doesn’t know the definition of what virtue is. So, Meno defined what virtue is for Socrates, one of the definition was that virtue is something to be learned and it is: “desire for good things”, where he explains that the man who manages the city or a woman who manages the house intend to be virtue. This type of management as Meno was thinking is taught, which it’s another definition of virtue that Meno gave, but Socrates disagrees with Meno and delivers his thoughts as a series of question so Meno gets to an understanding that virtue is not something

To be begin with, an individual cannot be good until they have attained the virtue of wisdom, and the same can be said for the city. For the individual, the person must not only be wise himself, but his soul must have wisdom. The only way to achieve this according to Socrates, is through for philosophy. In this way it is the same for the city, for in the city, wisdom lies with the guardians as they are the philosophers. The guardians are put in charge of the city because of their knowledge of how the city should be run. Because of this, the Guardians wisdom becomes the City’s. (Book IV)

The use of Socrates’ inquiry in the Meno is a perfect example to show how Socrates pushed his listeners to question their own knowledge. Socrates never told Meno his definitions were wrong and his own were right, rather continued to question Meno’s conclusions to show him that he did not know the true meaning of virtue. The people of Athens were unable to accept the fact that many of them were ignorant on topics such as the definition of virtue, whereas Socrates himself was able to admit it. The Athenians disguised Socrates’ true desire to teach people for corruption and impiety because they believed he was trying to humiliate them. Although the people of Athens were blind of Socrates’ true intentions, his method of inquiry did in fact benefit the city of Athens. Socrates’ methods eliminated ignorance and increased proper knowledge on important things such as virtue and knowledge within the city of Athens, which is what he meant when he said he was “a gift of the gods to the city of Athens.”

“Then, under the influence either of poverty or of wealth, workmen and their work are equally liable to degenerate” (Plato 277). On the other hand, poverty causes the craftsmen to develop a rebel attitude. As such, the will resort to evil deeds in order to sustain themselves in the city. Another class in the city is the soldiers. Plato, through his mouthpiece Socrates, argues that the courage of the people of the city lie in their soldiers. However, courage is not a state in which there is lack of fear. Rather it is a state of knowing and persevering in one’s own convictions. However, for this to happen, soldiers need access to good education, which will strengthen their convictions. Education becomes an important part in ensuring that the soldiers understand their role in the city. “Educating [soldiers] in music and gymnastic; we were contriving influences which would prepare them to take the dye of the laws in perfection” (Plato 286). In other words, without education, soldiers would not be able to make decisions that resonate with their beliefs. Thus, lack of fear alone would not serve a full potential as it forms only a smaller portion of what courage constitutes. The third class of the city is the guardians. According to Plato, “Here, then, is a discovery of new evils, I said, against which the guardians will have to watch” (277). Guardians are portrayed as people who have wisdom to watch over