In the third volume of the Republic, Socrates describes the lifestyle that an excellent guardian should adopt [4 16d]: (1) There is no private property except necessities; (2) Living a collective life of eating and living together, and food is provided by citizens of other grades.
This is a way of life that abandons personal happiness and aims to build an ideal city-state (public happiness), but is anyone willing to live this life? Aderman toth questioned this. [4 19a]
Socrates' defense:
(1) "The goal of this country is not to highlight the happiness of a certain class of individuals, but to maximize the happiness of all citizens." (2) Only in such a city-state, justice is most likely to be found. (3) After we have found a just country and an unjust country (considering the opposing countries), we can make a judgment and tell which of the two countries is happy.
Socrates' idea is to build a model of the ideal city-state first (to legislate for the ideal country), and then try to find justice in it. If you think that the life that a guardian should have is unhappy, does that mean that farmers don't stop working and potters don't make pottery, but only enjoy that life?
Socrates put happiness in the whole country. [42 1b] We must persuade all classes (guardians, helpers and others) to do their best and do their part. The whole country can develop harmoniously, and all classes will get the happiness endowed by nature.
Socrates said that there are two reasons for skill degradation: (1) poverty and (2) wealth. [42 1d]
Being rich is luxury, laziness and demanding change; Poverty is rude and inferior, and it needs to be changed. [422a]
Question from Aderman Toth: If a city-state is not rich, how can it go to war? Especially how to fight against a rich and powerful city-state?
Socrates' answer: such an enemy is difficult to fight; But it is easier to deal with two such enemies. (1) Divide and rule: just turn around and escape, lure the enemy to pursue, and then just turn around and knock down the nearest enemy. (2) Alienation: The ideal city-state does not have much gold and silver (not rich), but it can alienate the enemy, persuade one of them to form an alliance with itself, and attack countries that plunder more gold and silver. If you are fighting an enemy country, you can alienate the enemy country (assuming that no country is as poor and rich as an ideal country). No matter what kind of country, it is divided into two hostile parts, the poor and the rich. Even more, so that Utopia can find its allies from within the enemy. (Example: Sparta is the overlord of Greece. It carried out aristocratic rule throughout Greece, supported optimates of every city-state, and opposed Democrats. )
A country without wealth (not only refers to the gap between rich and poor, but also refers to the phenomenon of absolute poverty and wealth) is a country, which is stronger than "a seemingly country" (in fact, there are many factions with different internal interests). Even with only a thousand soldiers, it is strong enough. (The meaning here is Sparta. There are only a few thousand first-class citizens, but they are already the hegemon of Greece. )
Here Socrates put forward the optimal limit of the size of the country: the country is so big that it can still remain unified. [423b] (Not as big as we thought, the better. The rapid decline of Sparta after the Peloponnesian War is also intriguing. After the Peloponnesian War, Sparta reached the acme of prosperity, which not only controlled the Greek mainland, but also opened up the Asia Minor part of the Persian Empire. When Thebes and its allies invaded the Peloponnesus, King Agsilao and the main force of Sparta were still in Asia Minor. Although King Agesilao quickly led the troops to fight back, the decline of Spartan hegemony was inevitable. Later generations criticized Agesilao's expedition to Persia as the direct cause of Sparta's decline. From this perspective, Sparta's political system only applies to small countries and few people. )
Socrates pointed out that the guardian's mission is to make this country a huge and unified city-state. Socrates advocated that all the descendants of citizens should be owned by the state, with equal education and equal selection, and the selection should be based on individual talents rather than bloodline (this is another characteristic that breaks the family). "All citizens, everyone's talent is suitable for what to do, just do it. If the guardians' descendants have low talent, they should be demoted to other professions. If the descendants of the lower classes are gifted, they will be promoted to guardians. In this way, the whole city-state will become a unified rather than a split. " [423d]
(About the example of selective inheritance: In the middle and late Roman Empire, the seme inheritance system was adopted. For example, during the Five Emperors' period, there was no direct blood relationship between emperors, and most of them were relatives. Every emperor chooses his own heir, then adopts him as his adopted son and makes him Chu Jun.
The most important thing for the ruler of an ideal country is to "educate and cultivate" future citizens and "prevent the country from corrupting unconsciously." According to Plato's theory, the polis is like a machine built according to the ideal model of the country, which will only deteriorate with the passage of time and will not get better every day. This is a mechanical concept of state, which can be compared with the second law of thermodynamics, that is, the disorder of closed systems increases with time. )
Socrates advocated that guardians should try their best to protect sports, music and even games from being refurbished. He also quoted Damon (a musician at that time) as evidence: "If the fundamental law of the country changes, the music style will not change anyway." [424c] (Here we can still see the shadow of the political system of Sparta. Sparta once banned the addition of new strings to the lyre. The law [797a-b] warns people not to renovate in children's games. )
Socrates' argument about the penetration and erosion of the legal and political system by the concert [424d]: the new music or game $ $ \ to $ $ personality and habits $ $ \ to $ $ interpersonal relationship $ $ \ to $ $ $ legal and political system $ $ \ to $ $ finally destroyed all public and private things.
Socrates thinks that only the most important things need legislation (1), and customs should not be made into laws; (2) It is not the task of legislators to formulate trivial and detailed laws.
"It is foolish to make customs into laws, because if these terms are only written on paper, such laws will not be observed." [425b]
Do markets, public security, port rules and the like need to be made into laws? "For excellent people, it is inappropriate to impose so many legal provisions on them. What rules are needed, most of them will easily find themselves. " [425d-e]
For legislators, as long as future generations can keep the most important laws that have been enacted. Lawmakers should concentrate on making the most important and basic laws, otherwise they will be busy making those tedious laws that are ineffective.
For example, people with bad living habits can't be cured no matter how they are treated. [426b]
In countries with bad politics, "citizens are forbidden to contact the system of the whole country, and anyone who attempts to change the state system will be sentenced to death;" But at the same time, no matter who he is, as long as he can serve the citizens living in this bad political order with great enthusiasm, ..., they regard such people as excellent people with great wisdom and great coma and give them respect. "
Socrates held a negative attitude towards this "improvement". For countries with bad politics, it is futile to seek to eliminate the disadvantages in specific fields without fundamentally changing the state system. [426e] Real legislators should not spend their energy on this. How legislators can be useful, or how to build a country, has become a key issue. The possible ways are: (1) colonial conquest. Plato's law assumes that Crete is colonized to establish a new country. For conquered countries, conquerors are naturally protectors and helpers, while conquered countries are naturally farmers and craftsmen; (2) Through autocratic rule, rebuild order with power and legislate for the new city-state. In On Levi, Machiavelli discussed how to build a democratic country, which is also his basic idea. The establishment of Washington and the United States can be regarded as a realistic example. )
The funeral and requiem ceremony of the deceased will be entrusted to our ancestors.
Justice is an abstract concept, not as intuitive as looking for "red". At the same time, justice, as one of the four virtues mentioned by the ancient Greeks (wisdom, courage, temperance and justice), is also well known. Plato gave the definition of city-state justice by analytical method.
The train of thought of Plato's argument is that, first of all, this country must be wise, brave, temperate and just. [427e] (this is the presupposition of the argument, and its source is the general view of the ancient Greeks, that is, the four virtues). Suppose we find one of these attributes in this country, then the factors that exclude the existence of such diplomacy and countries include the rest. (It can be regarded as a method of exclusion. Four virtues are different. We can always find justice by eliminating one by one. This discussion about how to classify and name is similar to the discussion about completeness in mathematics)
A country is wise because its leaders are knowledgeable.
(1) In this city-state, some citizens (protectors of the country) have a kind of knowledge, which is used to consider the affairs of the whole country and improve its internal and external relations. (2) the protector has the knowledge of the protector, and such a country is wise. (3) It is wise to "build a country according to nature (nature, nature)". This is because its leaders are knowledgeable.
This country is brave because its soldiers are brave. A country is said to be brave because of the bravery of some of its own people, that is, warriors. Analogy: Priests are called soldiers of the church. They are all in uniform and ready to fight for them. )
Courage is a kind of maintenance. [429c] Keep the belief of "terrible things" established by law through education. Under no circumstances should you abandon it. Be alert and ready to fight these "terrible things" to protect the polis. )
Temperance and justice are easily confused, and we don't want to ignore temperance. Let's look at temperance first. )
Temperance is a good order, and it is the control of some happiness (some are restrictions, suggesting that not all happiness) and desires by reason. If so, it is what people say, "I am my own master." [430e]
There are "good parts" (reason) and "bad parts" (desire) in the human soul. If good control is not good, it means "you are your own master", on the contrary, it means "you are your own slave". Question: Does intuition belong to reason, desire or something in between? If it is between the two, it is the "correct opinion." )
Temperance exists in all citizens (rulers and ruled), and courage and wisdom exist in different parts of the country. Temperance runs through all citizens, combining the strongest, the weakest and the middle to create harmony. (Musical Analogy) [432a]
(1) First of all, recall our general principle of building this country: everyone must perform a job that suits his nature best in this country. [433a] (2) Justice means only doing your own thing and not doing other people's things. (3) This quality enables temperance, courage and wisdom to be produced in this city-state, and protects them all the time after they are produced. This is "justice". [433b]
Justice is a quality embodied in all citizens, that is, everyone does his own thing as a person and does not interfere in other people's things. [433d]
Justice means having your own things and doing your own thing. [433e] (Do your duty, a businessman will not want to be a ruler. )
Injustice means that three kinds of people (protector, helper and businessman) interfere with each other and replace each other.
Q: How to distinguish between justice and temperance, or is it necessary to do so? It seems that justice and temperance are the same thing. Moderation emphasizes the obedience of the ruled to the ruler's rule, while justice emphasizes that the three kinds of people do their own jobs and do not interfere with each other. In this way, an equilateral triangle can be drawn, with the protector, helper and businessman each occupying a corner. The protector is wise, the helper is brave, and the businessman is temperate. Justice is to do one's duty and achieve a perfect state, which is an equilateral triangle. However, this understanding method is not completely consistent with Plato's account, because he emphasizes that justice and temperance run through everything, not just that justice is the quality embodied in all citizens.
1. Plato thinks that if two things have the same name, one is big and the other is small, they should be the same. [435a] (This can be regarded as an agreement without evidence)
2. Then there should be wisdom, courage, temperance and justice in the individual soul, otherwise it is impossible to imagine where the four virtues in the city-state come from. (Plato's discussion of the nature of part and whole here is too simplistic. For example, graphite is black, but we can't say that all individual carbon atoms are black. More is different. )
Suppose that each of us has the same qualities and habits as the people in the polis. [435e]
There are three kinds of people in the polis, so personal qualities are three independent components? Or a whole?
This is another metaphysical question. Is to be whole. Or part of it? Below, Plato will defend the analytical method, that is, through analysis, the part related to a specific behavior can always be found.
Lemma: the same part of the same thing (the smallest unit obtained through analysis) is related to the same thing, and it is impossible to have opposite effects or be affected by opposite effects at the same time. [436b]
So whenever we see this opposite situation on the same thing, we will know that it is not the same thing but different things at work.
Exodus 1: It is impossible for a person to move and be still at the same time. Static and dynamic are opposites and must be related to different things. The human body is static, but the human hand can move. Therefore, people can continue to be analyzed into different things, such as body and hands, which are new "yes". )
Example 2: The axis of a rotating gyro is not stationary. A simplified example can be discussed here, that is, whether an ideal point can be both dynamic and static, or whether an ideal point can be rotated, which is not possible according to Plato's thinking. The ideal point has no part, and rotation is defined as the movement of the part of the object relative to the part. From this point of view, there can be no rotation at the ideal point. However, if we define the ideal point as a steel ball with a size approaching 0, that is, we first define a steel ball with a finite size, and then let the size of the steel ball approach 0, in this case, the ideal point can be rotated. If the electron is regarded as the physical realization of the ideal point, can it rotate? Can electrons be at rest and in motion? )
The above quotation should be unprovable, and Plato seems to be aware of it. His solution is: we don't have to strictly prove lemmas, just assume that they are like this, and then move forward under this assumption, but we need to remember in our hearts that once we find that our assumptions are wrong, we will revoke all the conclusions derived from them. [437a]
The above can be said to be a summary of Plato's methodology of exploring knowledge, which is very similar to the axiomatic method in geometry research. For example, in geometry, Euclid (later than Plato, but directly influenced by Plato's school) assumes that two parallel lines have no intersection (parallel postulate), which cannot be proved and can only be used as the assumption of Euclid's geometry. If we cancel this postulate, we will cancel Euclidean geometry accordingly, but we will get a new set of logically self-consistent knowledge-non-Euclidean geometry.
4. Analysis of "A person feels thirsty but doesn't want to drink water" [439c]
Explain that there are "rational part" (for thinking and reasoning) and "desire part" (for feeling love, hunger, thirst, etc. ) In the soul, there are all kinds of happy companions. )
There is still passion in the soul (something that makes us angry)
(1) Passion is different from desire because it conflicts with desire as something other than desire. [440a] (If people are in a state of religious fanaticism, they are not afraid of life and death) (2) Passion is an ally of reason (if it is not corrupted by bad education), not a desire. (3) Children are full of passion from birth, but they are not rational. [44 1a] (So passion is not reason. Question: Is intuition a passion? So there are three things in the soul: reason, passion and desire. (5) Education will coordinate rationality and passion. [442a], and then they will lead the desire. Rational advice, passion under its leadership to fight bravely.
6. Summary: (1) Make a correct division of labor according to the characteristics of the three, which is the premise of wisdom, courage and temperance, and this is justice. (2) Temperance means that the ruled obeys the ruler's rule and achieves a harmonious state. (3) The helper guards what should be guarded under the leadership of the ruler, and brave fighting is brave. (4) Rulers know their respective nature and their common interests, and it is wisdom to play a leading role.
Injustice is the struggle between the three, which is not harmonious and interferes with each other. A part of the soul rises against the whole soul in an attempt to seize the inner leadership. (It should all be from the bottom up, especially for the defenders. )
The analogy between justice and injustice in health and disease. [444c]
"Nature" and "Anti-nature" (translated by Guo Binhe and others as "only nature") [444d]
Q: Which is more advantageous, justice or injustice? [445a]
If the essence of the elements of life on which we live has been destroyed and destroyed, living is worthless. [445a-b]
Q: How many kinds of evil are caused by "injustice"? [445c-d]
(1) Virtue is one kind, but there are countless kinds of evil. But there are four noteworthy. (2) There are as many souls as there are regimes. (3) There are five regimes and five souls. (4) The monarchy or aristocratic politics, which is the best, is ruled by people who love wisdom (representing reason). The eighth volume discusses four other corrupt politics. [545a-]
(A) honor politics (Teemo politics, Spartan political system, the ruling class is a warrior, representing passion)
(b) Oligopoly (according to the classification of property, after Solon's reform in Athens, the ruling class became rich and represented desire)
(c) Democracy (democracy, civilian politics, the ruling class is all citizens, and Athens is the second worst politics after Cristini's reform)
Tyranny is the worst politics and the opposite of kingship.
Discussion: If we criticize Plato's system, a natural way of thinking is aimed at its basic presupposition, that is, "everyone must perform a position that is most suitable for his nature in the country."
@ Ji Jiangyan