Reeve, C. D. C. 2004. Introduction. Plato, Republic. Translated from the New Standard Greek Text, with Introduction, by C. D. C. Reeve. Indianapolis; Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
No one doubts that the Republic is one of the very greatest works of Western philosophy. Like nothing before it and very little since, it combines philosophical and literary resourcefulness of the highest order in an attempt to answer the most important questions of all - how should we live if we want to live well and be happy? Justly or unjustly? Morally or immorally? Moreover, the answer it develops is based on an unusually rich account of our nature and the nature of reality. (Reeve 2004: ix)
Eriti huvitav tundub siin teose kirjanduslikkus. Sekundaarkirjandust sirvides jääb mulje, et selles on rohkesti lugusid.
Ethics, politics, aesthetics, philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, epistemology, and metaphysics are all woven together in it, and their later developments have been decisively shaped by its contribution to them. Contemporary philosophers read the Republic, as their predecessors did, not out of piety, but because it continues to challenge, disquiet, and inspire. Western philosophy is not, to be sure, simply a series of footnotes to this amazing text, but many of its best stories begin here. (Reeve 2004: ix)
Eetika, poliitika, esteetika, religioonifilosoofia, vaimufilosoofia, teadusfilosoofia, epistemoloogia ja metafüüsika. Märgin need üles, et vb tagantjärgi tuvastada, mis võiks olla mis. Üsna kirjanduslik triaad: (1) disquiet, (2) challenge, ja (3) inspire.
Horrified by actual political events, however, including the execution of his mentor and teacher Socrates in 399 BCE, he turned instead to philosophy, thinking that only it could bring true justice to human beings and put an end to civil war and political upheaval (see Seventh Letter 324b-326b). In the Republic, written around 380 BCE, he lays out the grounds for this at once pessimistic and optimistic assessment. (Reeve 2004: ix)
Filosoofia on vajalik, et saavutada rahu.
Platonism of one sort or another - Middle or Neo- or something else - remained the dominant philosophy in the pagan world of late antiquity, influencing St. Augustine among others, until the emperor Justinian closed the pagan schools at Athens in 529 CE. Much of what passed for Plato's thought until the nineteenth century, when German scholars pioneered a return to Plato's writings themselves, was a mixture of these different "Platonisms." (Reeve 2004: x)
18. sajandist leidsin ainult ühe ingliskeelse tõlke käesolevast teosest (H. Spens, 1763), Šotimaalt, mis sealjuures puhtjuhuslikult pühendatud Bute'i saare krahvile, mille kohta sain just entsüklopeediast lugeda.
Among these are the following three famous Socratic "paradoxes":The conventionally distinguished virtues - justice, piety, courage, and the rest - are all identical to wisdom or knowledge, conceived of as a type of craft (technê) or expertise (Charmides 174b-c, Euthydemus 281d-e, Protagoras 329b-334c, 349a-361d). This is often referred to as the unity of the virtues doctrine.Together these three doctrines constitute a kind of ethical intellectualism: they imply that what we need in order to be virtuous and happy is expert craft knowledge. (Reeve 2004: xii)
Possession of this knowledge is necessary and sufficient for happiness (Crito 48b, Gorgias 470e).
No one ever acts contrary to what he knows or believes to be best, so that weakness of will is impossible (PRotagoras 352a-359a).
Seda sai sissejuhatuses filosoofiasse tublisti nämmutada. Gillian Clarke'il on joonealune märkus Iamblichusele, et ta võib-olla kordab iseennast vooruste teemal, et rõhutada vooruste ühtsust, aga Iamblichuse tekstis endas mina vähemalt seda ei adunud.
Socrates' next interlocutor, Thrasymachus, explains why. He argues that those who are stronger in any society - the rulers - control education and socialization through legislation and enforcement. But he thinks that the rulers, like everyone else, are self-interested. Hence they make laws and adopt conventions - including linguistic conventions - that are in their own best interests, not those of their weaker subjects. It is these conventions that largely determine a subject's conception of justice and the other virtues. By being trained to follow or obey them, therefore, a subject is unwittingly adopting an ideology - a code of values and behavior - that serves his ruler's, rather than his own, interests. Consequently, Thrasymachus defines justice not as what socialized subjects like Socrates and Polemarchus think it is (something genuinely noble and valuable that promotes their own happiness), but as what it really is in all cities: the interest of the stronger. (Reeve 2004: xiii)
Natuke jahmatab, sest "ideoloogia" mõiste on viimaste sajandite (de Tracy 1796) leiutis, aga argument iseenesest on huvitav ja meenutab kangesti nt ameeriklaste skeptilisust valitsuse suhtes.
The system they construct relies on Plato's theory of the soul or mind (psychê), the seat of consciousness, emotion, desire, and decision-making. According to this theory, there are three fundamentally different kinds of desires:appetitive ones for food, drink, sex, and the money with which to acquire them; spirited ones for honor, victory, and good reputation; and rational ones for knowledge and truth (437b f., 580d ff.). Each of these types of desire "rules" in the soul of a different type of person, determining his values. (Reeve 2004: xiv)
See värk, mida mina nimetan "triaadilisuseks" ja millest ma kogun näiteid. Need on (1) ihalev hingeosa, (2) söakas hingeosa, ja (3) ratsionaalne hingeosa. Inimtüüpidena annab Reeves siin (1) money-lovers, (2) honor-lovers, ja (3) wisdom-lovers.
In a number of dialogues, Plato connects the relativist doctrines he attributes to the sophists with the metaphysical theory of Heraclitus, according to which the perceptible things or characteristics we see around us are in constant flux or change - always becoming, never being. In the Theatetus, he argues that Protagoras' claim that "man is the measure of all things" presupposes that the world is in flux; in the Cratylus, he suggests that the theory of flux may itself be the result of projecting Protagorean relativism onto the world (411b-c). Nonetheless, Plato seems to accept some version of this theory himself (see Aristotle, Metaphysics 987a32-4). In Republic 5, for example, he characterizes perceptible things and characteristics as lying "in between what purely is and what in every way is not" (478a-479d; see also Timaeus 52a). (Reeve 2004: xv)
Sellest, et Herakleitos "voolamine" võib olla seotud pütaagorlaste filosoofiaga, olen kohanud mainimisi, a la "Heraclitus of Ephesus was probably younger than Pythagoras and Xenophanes, whom he names and combats" (Ueberweg 1889: 38).
Second, the brilliant mathematical treatment of harmony (musical beauty) developed by Pythagoras of Samos and his followers (Aristotle, Metaphysics 987a29-8a17) suggested a role for mathematics within philosophy itself. It opened up the possibility of giving precise definitions in wholly mathematical terms of all characteristics, including such apparently vague and evaluative ones as beauty and ugliness, justice and injustice, good and evil, and the other things of which Socrates sought definitions (Republic 530d-533e). (Reeve 2004: xvi)
Platon ju teadupoolest "pütagoriseerib".
The first principle of this entire theory, Plato claims, the greatest objects of knowledge (505a), is the form of the good, which seems to be an ideal of rational order or unity expressed in mathematical terms. It is the model the philosopher uses to design his ideally just and happy Kallipolis (540a-b). On a larger scale, it also provides the maker of the cosmos - the Demiurge - with the knowledge he needs to perform his cosmic task (Timaeus 29e ff.). For even the gods are bound by the objective truths and values embodied in the forms (Euthyphro 10a ff.). (Reeve 2004: xvii)
Jumala ("ühe") loometöö järgib samuti matemaatilisi seadusi: "The One becomes a Two as the Unlimited penetrates it." (Burkert 1972: 36)
Adeimantus responds by asking what these patterns for stories about the gods actually are. Socrates' lengthy answer may be summed up without much loss as follows: no bad images of "what the gods and heroes are like" (377e); only stories that will make the guardians "east likely to fear death" (386a); no "terrible and frightening names for the underworld" (387b-c); no "lamentations of famous men" who have suffered defeat and died (387e); no representation of "worthwhile people as overcome by laughter" (388e-389a); no representation of gods or heroes as failing "to rule over thepleasures of drink, sex, [|] and food for themselves" (389d-e); none of the "headstrong things that private individuals say to their rulers in works of prose or poetry" (390a); no imitators except "the pure imitator of the good person" (397d); no musical harmonies except the Dorian and Phrygian (399a); no music played on flutes, triangular lutes, harps, or no "multi-stringed or polyharmonic instruments" (399c); no rhythms except those appropriate to "a life that is ordered and courageous" (399d). (Reeve 2004: xvii-xviii)
Osad neist on üsna pütaagorlikud: Kuldvärsside järgi tuleb jumalaid ja kangelasi austada; surma ei tule karta, sest hing on surematu; mitte naermine või vähemalt mitte kohatult naermine on omaette teema; ja KV-s jällegi peale jumalate, kangelaste, deemonite ja vanemate austamise tuleb ülejäänud inimkonna hulgast valida endale parimaks sõbraks kõige vooruslikum ja jäljendada teda.
We might expect that Socrates' first step would be to draft a set of laws for Kallipolis. Instead, he focuses almost exclusively on designing a social structure that will dispose all the citizens to virtue. The reason for this is ultimately psychological. Socrates thinks that unless socialization (including education) makes people's appetites and emotions as responsive as possible to reason, so that they acquire civic virtue, no system of laws will be effective, but that once they have acquired such virtue, legislation by philosopher-kings is a routine matter (422e-427d). Put the other way around, he believes that the threat posed to political good order by lawless or unnecessary appetites is the greatest political evil of all. It is this belief that explains so much that we are likely to find most abhorrent in the Republic, such as the lies of the rulers, the critique of the family and private property, and the censorship of art. Of more immediate relevance, it is also what explains the sort of labor specialization that Socrates claims must be mandatory in Kallipolis. (Reeve 2004: xix)
Kõige teravamad küsimused: kas valitsejad võivad valetada? Perekond ja eraomand. Kunsti tsenseerimine. Minu jaoks kõlavad need jällegi nagu ümberkaudsed küsimused pütaagorlaste kogukonna kohta: see, et nad hoiavad oma salaõpetust endale ja ülejäänud linnale annavad lihtsaid juhendusi, on peaaegu samaväärne valetamisega; pütaagorlastel endal eraomandit ei ole; perekonna staatus on kahtlane - seks ainult prokreatsiooniks; kunsti tsenseerimise osas näib, et nii Vabariigi Sokratesel kui Pythagorasel on väga konkreetseid arvamusi sellest, millised pillid ja milline pillimäng on kõlvulised.
The poet or dramatist writes for a nonspecialist audience. Hence he must employ a conceptual framework similar to theirs. Character, motive, plot - all must be drawn from folk psychology; not, say, from cognitive science or whatever the true theory of the soul turns out to be. This means that art represents people and their motives and actions, not necessarily as they really are, but only as they seem to people without specialist training. The languages of art are not, then, the technical mathematics-like language of Platonic truth. The scientist, or philosopher-king, by contrast, is free of this constraint, since his is primarily an audience of fellow specialists (601a-b, 603b-605c). (Reeve 2004: xxiv)
Ilu- ja aimekirjanduse võib maha kanda. Meenub seik mingist nõmedast raamatust, mis üritas väita, et traditsionaalsed/stereotüüpilised soorollid on loomulikud või loomuomased ja esitas tõestusmaterjalina ilukirjandust, telesaateid ja filme, st kultuuritooteid.
A person's needs, wants, and interests are determined by the natural genetic lottery, by education and upbringing, and by actual circumstances. They also depend on his beliefs, which in turn depend to some extent on the same factors as do his needs, wants, and interests themselves. His real interests are those he would form under optimal conditions - those in which his needs are satisfied, he is neither maltreated nor coerced nor the victim of false ideology, and he is as aware as possible of his actual circumstances and the real alternatives to them. Happiness is optimal satisfaction of real interests in the long term. (Reeve 2004: xxv)
Kangesti tahaks jagada triaadideks: (1) vajadused - geneetilised eelsoodumused; (2) soovid - haridus ja üleskasvatus; ja (3) huvid - tegelikud tingimused. Siin on nagu algeline Maslowi püramiid: ihaleva hingejao rahuldamiseks tuleb keha toita, magatada, puhata, jne; söaka hingejao rahuldamiseks on vaja sotsiaalsed sidusust, seksuaalset rahuldust, jne mille äärmusteks on au ja kuulsus; ja alles siis saab inimene tegeleda vaimliste hüvedega, oma tõeliste huvidega ja olla tõeliselt õnnelik.
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