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3. Several scholars note that Plato never says anything directly: Bloom 1991b, xxi; Sallis
1996, 2; Beversluis 2000, 19; Rosen 2008, 2.
750 History of Political Economy 42:4 (2010)
4. For internal validation of exoteric and esoteric readings of Socrates’ speeches, see Plato’s
Symposium 221e–222a.
752 History of Political Economy 42:4 (2010)
wealth. Cephalus’s answer, which will turn out to determine the principal
focus for the long discussion that follows, is surprising. Rather than boast-
ing about the material comforts enjoyed by the wealthy, Cephalus asserts
supplant the rule of the moneymakers while the feverish city is trans-
formed into the beautiful city.
5. Rachel Barney (2001, 217) further notes that there are resemblances between the mon-
eymaking Cephalus and the citizens of both the first city and the producing class in the beau-
tiful city.
Silvermintz / Plato and the Division of Labor 759
6. See Adeimantus’s concern about Socrates’ undue influence in the Republic 487b–c.
Silvermintz / Plato and the Division of Labor 761
Shall the farmer, who is one, provide food for four and spend fourfold
time and toil on the production of food and share it with the others, or
shall he take no thought for them and provide a fourth portion of the
7. For example, see Aristotle’s Politics 1291a for a critique of the Republic’s first city
along these lines.
762 History of Political Economy 42:4 (2010)
Despite vastly different lifestyles, the luxurious city does not have much
more in the way of social and political institutions than the city of neces-
sity. Once again, the social arrangement of the luxurious city revolves
8. The assumption is that warriors are not necessary in the city of necessity since they
would not have the desire for expansion and do not possess the sort of valuables that would
open themselves up to foreign attack.
764 History of Political Economy 42:4 (2010)
9. See in particular McNulty 1975 for the view that Plato is assuming natural differences
when proposing the division of labor.
Silvermintz / Plato and the Division of Labor 765
433a. If the idea that individuals have different natures can be supported
by other places in the Platonic corpus, then one might have a good case for
using this to support the natural basis of the division of labor. In contrast,
civic factions through having each of the classes maintain their role in
the social hierarchy:
10. For discussion of the Republic’s conception of a parallel world of goods and ideas, see
Shell 1978 and Campbell 1985.
11. See Donovan 2003, 9, for a way to reconcile the two senses of the phrase using the
notion of ethical self-sufficiency.
Silvermintz / Plato and the Division of Labor 769
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