Notes on Republic, Books V-VI

A. The Three Waves (Book V)

1. Is Kallipolis (a) possible, and (b) desirable? (128) 

Is rational suppression of the body possible/desirable?

2. First Wave: Female Guardians (Plato’s “Feminism?”) - 130

‘Male’ and ‘female’ are no more relevant criteria for rule than whether someone is bald or hairy (132).

Second Wave: Communal property and child-rearing - the city as a political family

3. Wives and childen collectively ‘owned’, no private property or familial relations, since they are causes of private (i.e.selfish feelings) population control and eugenics to create perfect guardians. Breaking the mother-child bond(139)

4. Political faction protected against by a “community of pleasure and pain” (141) Different emotional responses to events divides a people, similar emotional responses bond a people.

5. Guarding against wealth-based class conflict (145)

6. Ethnic nationalism (racism) as tool for supporting city cohesion (149) - legal, just war only against non-Greeks.

7. Then is a that city best governed which is most like a single human being? (141)

Paternalistic versus political rule (?)

8. Third Wave: Philosopher-Kings

“Unless the philosophers rule as kings or those now called kings and chiefs genuinely and adequately philosophize, and political power and philosophy coincide in the same place, while the many natures now making their way to either apart from the other are by necessity excluded, there is no rest from ills for the cities, nor I think for human kind, nor will the regime we have now described in speech ever come forth from nature.” (153-4)

B. Characteristics of the Philosophical Nature and its relation to Reality 

9. Lovers of Appearances (beautiful things) versus Lovers of Reality (Beauty itself, the Form or Concept of Beauty) - the non-visible unity of experience behind experience. 

10. Dreaming versus waking reality 

The philosopher awake in Being / non-philosopher asleep in Becoming

Appearance Opinion Realm of Becoming (relativity/change/impermanence) body

Reality Knowledge Realm of Being (absoluteness/eternal essence) soul

11. holistic lovers of the Truth (164)

12. Pleasures of the soul versus pleasures of the body (165)

13. Doesn’t like small talk - human life as not worth that much (165)

“…a rememberer, a good learner, magnificence (large-souled), charming, and a friend and kinsman of truth, justice, courage and moderation.” (167)

14. Adeimantus’ objection to Philosophers: mixology, sophistism, nihilism. 

Arn’t philosophers totally useless to the city?

15. Metaphor of the Ship of State: the “shipowner”, “Sailors”, “skilled sailor”, philosopher as star-gazing navigator. “So with such things happening on the ships, don’t you believe that the true pilot will really be called a stargazer, a prater and useless to them by those who sail on ships run like this?” (168) 

16. Corruption of potential philosophers

Vigorous souls produce more truly evil figures than less vigorous souls.

Sophists teach conventional wisdom, are slaves of opinion: “intellectuals” vs. philosophers.

The masses do not appreciate abstract Truth, and so will not accept leadership by a philosopher. (173)

17. Self-defense tactics of the philosopher (176) - most cities are life-threatening for a philosopher, learns to avoid them.

18. Timeless existence of the philosopher: 

“It’s the philosopher, keeping company with the divine and the orderly who becomes orderly and divine, to the extent that it is possible for a human.” (180)

19. Highest goal of philosophy: The Idea (eidos or “look”) of the Good. (184)

Vs. the many identify goodness with pleasure, the few with prudence (185)

not all pleasures are good. 

20. Metaphor for the Idea of the Good - the Sun, Light as the medium of sight, offspring of the Good (188) is like Goodness, the source of the Truth or Intelligibility of what is understood or grasped with the Mind (Nous)