Plato and

The Republic
ABBOUD, MALAK
ABOU KOURA, ABDUL KAREEM
ABRAHAMIAN, CHRISTINA
AINTABLIAN, HASMIG
BABEJIAN, ELIE

MONDAY ● April 12 ● 2022 IST 203

Who is Plato?
The ancient Greek philosopher Plato
was a follower of Socrates and was
later the teacher of Aristotle. Plato
formed the foundations of much of
Western philosophy and provided
records of Socratic teachings.
Biography
Early Life:
• Born in 427/8 B.C.E. in Athens in a wealthy aristocratic
family
• He would have been taught by the best Greek teachers
about various subjects.
The Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.E. )
• Much of Plato's youth would have been influenced by
the Peloponnesian War
• It is likely that Plato served in the Athenian army during
his early life between 409 and 404.
5th century B.C.E. Athens
• His uncle and cousin were among the Thirty Tyrants
who terrorized the Athenian state after Athens lost the
war to Sparta in 404.
Meeting Socrates
• As Plato grew older he became more interested in academics and philosophy.
• In 407 BC, he met and became a student of Socrates, whose teachings and learning
style became the cornerstone of Plato's writings.

Travel and Study

• In 399 BC, Socrates was executed by the leaders of
Athens for corrupting the youth.
• Plato left Athens and traveled around the
Mediterranean region for the next twelve years. During that
time, he visited places like Italy, Egypt, and North
Africa.
• He studied subjects such as science, math, and philosophy.
• It is during this time that he began his extensive writing.
 The Academy
• When Plato was around 40 years old, he returned to
Athens and founded a school called the Academy in 387
BC. The archeological site of Plato’s Academy
• Plato and other scholars taught subjects such as
mathematics, philosophy, biology, and astronomy at the
Academy.
• One of Plato's students was the famous scientist and
philosopher Aristotle who studied at the Academy for
nearly 20 years.
• The Academy operated until 529 C.E.., when it was
closed by Roman Emperor Justinian I Map of Ancient Athens
Death and Legacy
• Plato's final years were spent at the Academy and with his writing. Historians believe that he died in
Athens around 348 B.C.E., when he was in his early 80s.
• Plato's legacy lives on in modern Western philosophy. His writings have been studied for the last
2000 years and are still studied in universities today.
 Dialogues
• Plato wrote in an interesting style called a "dialogue". In
the dialogue, Plato would introduce several characters
who would discuss a topic by asking questions to each
other. This form allowed Plato to explore several sides of
an argument and to introduce new ideas.
• Many of Plato's dialogues feature Socrates as the main
character. Most of what is known about Socrates'
philosophies comes from Plato's dialogues.
• Plato wrote approximately 35 dialogues. Most famous of
which include:
- The Republic
- The Symposium
- Crito
- The Apology
- Phaedo
The Republic
• One of the most famous of Plato’s dialogues
is The Republic.
• It consists of ten books in which the
characters discuss various aspects of
government and finally present the
"philosopher-king" as the ideal ruler.
• Socrates is once again the main character in
the dialogues, and he discusses how being
just or unjust can affect someone's life.
 The Ideal City

● In Books II, III, and IV, Plato identifies political

justice as harmony in a structured political body.
● An ideal society consists of three main classes of
people
○ producers (craftsmen, farmers, artisans, etc.)
○ auxiliaries (warriors)
○ guardians (rulers)
● Rulers must rule, auxiliaries must uphold rulers’
convictions, and producers must limit themselves to
exercising whatever skills nature granted them
(farming, blacksmithing, painting, etc.)
Therefore, according to Plato, justice is a principle of specialization: a principle that requires that each person
fulfill the societal role to which nature fitted him and not interfere in any other business.
 Plato’s Tripartite Soul
● According to Plato, the soul of every individual has a
three-part structure:
○ The rational part of the soul, which seeks after
truth and is responsible for our philosophical
inclinations
○ The spirited part of the soul, which desires honor
and is responsible for our feelings of anger and
indignation
○ An appetitive part of the soul, which lusts after all
sorts of things
 Soul vs City
● In analogy with the societal parts, in a just individual, the
rational part of the soul rules, the spirited part of the soul
supports this rule, and the appetitive part of the soul
submits and follows wherever reason leads
● Each of the three classes of society, in fact, is dominated by
one of the three parts of the soul:
○ Producers are dominated by their appetites
○ Warriors are dominated by their spirits, which make
them courageous
○ Rulers are dominated by their rational faculties and
strive for wisdom
 Plato’s Theory of Forms

● Plato explains that the world is divided into two realm:

○ The visible/physical (which we grasp with our senses)
○ The intelligible/ideal (which we only grasp with our mind)
● The visible world is the universe we see around us.
The intelligible world is comprised of the Forms—abstract,
changeless absolutes such as Goodness and Beauty that exist in
permanent relation to the visible realm and make it possible. (An
apple is red and sweet, the theory goes, because it participates in the Forms of
Redness and Sweetness.)
● Only the Forms are objects of knowledge, because only they possess the
eternal unchanging truth that the mind—not the senses—must apprehend
 The Allegory of the Cave

● The ‘Allegory Of The Cave’ is a theory put

forward by Plato, concerning human
perception. Plato claimed that knowledge
gained through the senses is no more than
opinion and that, in order to have real
knowledge, we must gain it through
philosophical reasoning.
● It distinguishes between people who mistake
sensory knowledge for the truth and people
who really do see the truth.
The Cave: Represents people who believe that knowledge
comes from what we see and hear in the world (empirical
evidence).. that believers of empirical knowledge are
trapped in a ‘cave’ of misunderstanding.
The Shadows: Represent the perceptions of those who
believe empirical evidence ensures knowledge. If you
believe that what you see should be taken as truth, then
you are merely seeing a shadow of the truth!
The Game: Represents how people believe that one
person can be a ‘master’ when they have knowledge of the
empirical world. Plato demonstrates that this master
doesn't actually know any truth.
The Escaped prisoner: Represents the Philosopher
who seeks knowledge outside of the cave and outside
of the senses.
The Sun: represents philosophical truth &
knowledge
The Return: The other prisoners’ reaction to the
escaped one returning represents that people fear
knowing philosophical truths and do not trust
philosophers.
 THANKS!
Prof. John P. Adams, M. and C. L. and L. (n.d.). Platonic chronology and writings. Retrieved
April 11, 2022, from https://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/platochron.html
SparkNotes. (n.d.). The Republic. Retrieved April 11, 2022, from
https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/republic/
A&E Networks Television. (2021, May 25). Plato. Biography.com. Retrieved April 11, 2022,
from https://www.biography.com/scholar/plato
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