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The Four Virtues
The City in Speech and the Soul
Philosophical Map
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The Last Virtue: Justice
Justice is the last virtue found on the road to a perfect society. Justice is the culmination of the other three virtues, but it is also the most controversial virtue of the four. According, to Socrates, justice can only be found by finding injustice, which is the greatest degree of evil-doing to one's state. The opposite of this would be to mind your own business, which is justice. If everyone would do their own job and not worry about others, they would be just and would in turn make the state just. However, this is not a complete defination, because in a "perfect" society, everyone helps other people and everything is communal.
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Wildflower on Nisyros Island |
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The City in Speech and the Soul
Socrates is relating the City in Speech to the soul. Every person has a certain degree of wisdom in him or her. In the City in Speech, this is represented by the guardians. In a just person, their wisdom should rule supreme. Wisdom is what separates an idiot from a good person. Even if a person is smart, if they don't have wisdom, they will not be a good person. The same is true in a society. If the ruling class does not do a good job, the people could revolt or could not do the right things for their state. Also, every person has a certain amount of courage. Courage is needed to step up to problems and meet demands. Without courage, a person will be cowardly and will not do well. Their soul will start to deteriorate. In a society, if courage is not present, that society could be attacked and lose self-rule. Soldiers need to protect the state so that the state's customs and principles will be upheld. Finally, the healthy soul needs an amount of temperance to keep passion under control. Without temperance, your passions would overrule you. In an injust state, passion rules supreme and clear-headedness is nonexistent. A state without temperance will undoubtedly fall apart.
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Comedy versus Tragedy
Socrates believed that tragedy and comedy were mislabeled. People felt that tragedies were sad and that comedies were funny. However, Socrates had an idea that comedies should be serious. For example, a popular play of that period of time was about the women of Greece going on a sex strike, and people thought the idea was hilarious. But if you think about it in a serious light, it would be a terrible thing if women went on a sex strike. On the other hand, tragedies should be viewed as being funny. It's hilarious that Oedipus got himself into the trouble that he did. Socrates looked at things that could be viewed as comical and thought about the topics seriously. In Book Four, Socrates proposed the idea that people not marry and just get together long enough to have kids, then take the kids away to be communally raised by the social class that they would grow up to be in. This could be a good idea. Kids could grow up being taught virtues and living among their peers. They could be taught in a stricter system to enforce discipline and virtue, so that they would be lawful when they grew up. Socrates had some revolutionary ideas.
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The City in Speech in relation to Sparta
Sparta set the guidelines for the City in Speech. Both of the societies had a very strict, militaristic society, and they both involved the communal raising of children. Both systems had a system of government where a small, select few ruled over the masses. These characteristics would lead to a very stable society, which was what Socrates was aiming for. Also, they did not have a stress on the arts. Sparta had a very small acropolis and did not care much for architecture. In the City in Speech, innovations in art were not allowed, because change disrupts the stability of government. If a society is perfect and it changes, it can only change for the worse.
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The coastal town of Pali |
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