Carroll, William

Professor Cunningham
PHI 2150 - Final
December 9, 2022

Artwork for Reflection: Book X of The Republic

A Reflection on Book X of the Republic

The work depicted above is a pictorial reflection of the themes discussed within Plato’s
Book X of The Republic. The top left image is a classical inspired elevation drawing, the top right
a diagrammatic floor plan, and the bottom center an interpretive perspective of the space. The
element of reflection is imposed through the repetition of architectural elements as friezes
solidify the theme of imitation. Columns and space both communicate with each other to convey
themes of degrees and deception. The overall function of the form reflects Plato’s main point in a
literal manner and the architectural elements utilized makes that statement clear. The proposed
form depicted above communicates themes derived from the text through the use of architectural
elements within the exterior, the elements within the interior, and the usage of space.
Taking into account the exterior detail, the proposed plan articulates the common theme
of imitation as seen within the text. Depicted within the elevation of the facade, columns with
ornate detail decorate and carry the predominant pediment. As these columns are repeated and
 Carroll, William
Professor Cunningham
PHI 2150 - Final
December 9, 2022
move towards the sides of the exterior, they begin to lose detail. This intention reminds the
viewer that “imitation is far removed from the truth, for it touches only a small part of each thing
and a part that is itself only an image.” (598-b). The doric columns placed closest within the
center represents that purest form of truth; the ideal of a doric column. Repetition plays with
these columns as they are repeated, however seamless they may be, the columns begin to lose
detail, representing that stray from the idyllic truth. The farthest columns are only imitators,
imposters of the purest form of truth.
Shifting towards the interior, decorative friezes depict the functional elements found
within the radial plan of workshops. As repetition is utilized largely, these images are placed
along the upper parts of walls and solidifies the theme of degrees found within the space. Plato
makes this famous example establishing how artists are only imitative to the purest forms. The
first degree is communicated to be one that ‘god makes”, the second, “the work of the
carpenter”, and the third, “the painter” (597-b). The friezes resemble the artistic interpretation of
the functional aspects of the workshops, which in turn is the furthest removed of the intention of
the space. Referring back to the axis that Plato establishes, the friezes depict the output of a
“magician or imitator” that has deceived the viewer into thinking that the artist’s contribution
embodies the imitation of truth rather, and in actuality, the “imitation of appearances” alone.
Therefore, the friezes, created by artists and deceivers alike, found meticulously within the
interior of the space communicates the third degree from truth and solidifies Plato’s claims of
artistic interpretation.
Upon a macro-level of observation and as hinted within the description of the interior, the
program of the space fully resembles this degree of truth or “axis” of truth. The vegetal courtyard
holds the axis affixed and is representative of this first degree, the degree made from god. It’s the
purest form within this context, and as the space expands radially, the workshops elaborates on
that second degree. They’re intended function is to construct interpretations of the vegetal forms
found within the courtyard, which establishes their creation as the second removed from truth.
Lastly, and in reference to the details depicted upon the friezes, this artistic representation of the
craftsman’s interpretation of the courtyard represents the third degree, or the furthest removed
from the truth. Within the space, virtue is an element that is tossed around between function and
element. The fullest virtue being holstered by the courtyard, and as that virtue is being tossed,
parts of it shed off, only ending as a shell of what it used to be. Within virtue’s conclusion, the
friezes make the claim that “all poetic imitators, beginning with Homer, imitate images of virtue
and all the other things they write about and have no grasp of the truth…” (600-e).
The images depicted above fully encapsulates the common themes of repetition,
imitation, and degrees found within The Republic: Book X. As exterior columns represent the
tapering truth, the interior friezes represent the imitation of that truth. The program of the space
alludes to the axis established by Plato and utilizes virtue as a play ball, bouncing from space to
 Carroll, William
Professor Cunningham
PHI 2150 - Final
December 9, 2022
space, and landing onto the third degree. Art, imitation, virtues, and ideals are all themes
communicated within the walls of the space.