Plato's Republic: Justice, Ideal City, and the Philosopher-King

The Peloponnesian War and its Impact on Athenian Society

The Peloponnesian War pitted **Sparta** against **Athens**. Civil strife resulted from tensions accumulated over a century between two different social and political systems: the oligarchic and anarchic Spartan system, and the Athenian system, with increasing participation of the people.

Cultural Tensions in Ancient Greece

On the cultural level, there was tension between the persistence of religious traditions and the spirit of innovation and streamlining. We can see this in Greek literature, especially in the tragedies of Sophocles, Euripides, and others.

Plato's Philosophy: The Search for the Ideal

This search for the ideal, or perfect, characterizes the philosophy of **Plato**, who conceives of ideas as universal and permanent realities. Knowledge of good, beauty, and justice are relative but not universal.

Plato's Theory of Ideas

In this text, we can observe how the theory of Platonic ideas evolved and developed considerably in previous dialogues. Plato raises universal questions that seek answers through intellectual knowledge. He always starts from the multiplicity of aspects that appear to us in reality through our senses.

He considers the relationship between sensible things and ideas to be a relation of imitation; that is, things are copies of originals, which are the Ideas. In The Republic and Phaedrus, Plato develops his theory, seeking to establish a logical and ontological framework in that perfect and immutable world. The most important idea is the idea of the good, which is responsible for establishing that order.

Around this order, Plato conducts a series of reflections with consequences not only for ontology and epistemology but also for anthropology.

Plato's *Republic*: A Blueprint for an Ideal Society

Plato's Early Life and Influences

As a young teacher, Plato had Cratylus, a follower of the philosophy of Heraclitus, until 407 BC when he joined the retinue of disciples of Socrates.

Structure and Themes of *The Republic*

The basic purpose of The Republic is to establish an ideal city, a totally rational form of government led by the philosopher-king, who knows good and is capable of promoting justice in the polis. The Republic belongs to Plato's maturity stage and is divided into 10 books, which are grouped into five thematic sections:

1. Book I raises the issue of what justice is.
2. Books II, III, and IV examine justice in the ideal city.
3. Books V, VI, and VII set out the forms of organization, government, and characteristics of their social classes. Book VI is divided into two portions:
   1. Sun = Good
   2. Simile of the Line

   Both of these attempt to establish the epistemological principles of Plato; that is, they function well in the knowledge that can differentiate degrees of knowledge and which items are associated with them.

4. Book VII contains the "Myth of the Cave," an allegorical reflection that shows the major themes of Platonic philosophy: anthropology, gnoseology, and ontology. We can say that the purpose was to highlight the importance of education for the individual.
5. Books VIII and IX consider the evils that drive a city to ruin.

The Mind-Body Problem: Cartesian Dualism

This problem was revived by the renovation of psychophysical dualism that emerged from the Cartesian doctrine about substances. According to Descartes, we must distinguish three types of substances:

• The infinite substance (which he identifies with God)
• The thinking substance or res cogitans, whose attribute is thinking
• The extended substance or res extensa, whose attribute is extension

But in humans, endowed with thought, the question arises of the relationship between res extensa and res cogitans. That is, how can a substance that is merely thinking and intangible act on the body (and vice versa)?