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I. The Virtues
In Robin Waterfield's translation of The Republic,Socrates attempts to
give a definition of justice. At the end of Book II he began a detailed
description of the construction of a good city. The good city is a relation to
the human soul, and its four virtues. In the following paper I will discuss
the virtues, what they are and where they are found. Also discussed will be
the foundation, arrangement, and the interconnectedness with each one. Next
discussed would be the 3 "H's" and the understanding Aristotle has on the role
of happiness in the moral life. Lastly, I will discuss the experience that I
had that related to Leonitus.
The four virtues used by Plato are prudence, courage, temperance, and
justice. Plato relates the virtues to a community, which is made up of the
rulers, army, and workers. Now the base line is the workers, and they do not
try to blend with the army as the army doesn't blend with the rulers. When all
of these do their own job, the community becomes one.
The first virtue to be discussed is prudence. Prudence, also known as
wisdom, is found in the rulers. "The people who have it are those rulers'"
(428d) In order to have wisdom one must be resourceful, in which he/she has
obtained knowledge. Plato says, "' resourcefulness is obviously a kind of
knowledge' it's not ignorance which makes people resourceful; it's knowledge."
(428b)
The second virtue is courage, which is found in the military section of
the community. Courage is not the virtue of standing in front of a tank and say
it will not hurt me, that is stupidity. Courage is the ability to apply what
you have been taught: what is to be feared and what is not to be feared. Plato
relates retention to courage, "I'm saying courage is a sort of retention'the
retention of notion." (429c) The ability for one to retain what one has learned
is courage. "Ability to retain under all circumstances a true and lawful notion
about what is feared and what is not to be feared is what I'm calling courage."
(430b)
The next virtue temperance, is found in the workers of Plato's
community. Temperance, also known as self-discipline, is needed by the
workers, so that they do not desire to be in the ruler's position. It is seen
that each position has its own importance in the community, and for the
community to function correctly each one must agree on their position in life.
Plato relates, "' in this community' the rulers and their subjects agree on
who the rulers should be." (431e) Temperance is also used to control the
desire to go against one's free-will. Plato says, "To be self-disciplined is
somehow to order and control the pleasures and desires." (430e)
The last virtue to be discussed is Justice otherwise known as morality.
Justice is found when all of the three work together, and no crimes are
committed. If one breaks pattern then the community becomes immoral, or if one
becomes out of place then it is immoral. "'when each of the three classes'
perform its own function and does its own job in the community, then this is
morality'" (434c)
Now I will discuss the human soul, containing three parts. The human
soul is a larger version of Plato's community, therefore each of the virtues
relate to the human soul. The first part is reason, which is the capacity to
think rationally. Next is passion, which is the fighting for what is right,
and the two together work as allies. "' the rational part is wise and looks
out for the whole of the mind, isn't it right for it to rule, and for the
passionate part to be its subordinate and its ally." (441e) As passion and
reason work together, passion is found in the military. The last part is
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