Plato the Teacher Plato the Teacher of The Crisis the Republic William H. F. Altman LEXINGTON BOOKS Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK Published by Lexington Books A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.lexingtonbooks.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2012 by Lexington Books All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Altman, William H. F., 1955- Plato the teacher: the crisis of The republic / William H.F. Altman. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 978-0-7391-7138-7 (cloth: alk. paper) --ISBN 978-0-7391-7139-4 (electronic) 1. Plato. Republic. 2. Justice. 3. Teaching--Methodology. I. Title. JC71.P6A532012 321'.07--dc23 2011046892 eTY The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSIINISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America in memoriam Adeline Furness Altman (1913-2010) . "But if something different manifests itself in the individual, we will return again to the state and test it there [:n:UA.LV btuvLOVtes btl ti)v :n:OA.LV (3uoavLOiJ),1£v] and it may be that, by examining them side by side and rubbing them against one another [:n:uQ' aA.A.llA.u oxo:n:oiJVtES xul tQ$ovteS] as it were from the fire sticks we may cause the spark of justice to flash forth [wo:n:eQ EX :n:uQEiwv EXA.UJ.L'VuL :n:mytoul),1£v ti)v OlXULOouvllv], and when it is thus revealed confirm it in our own minds." Republic IV. 434e4-435a4; translation Paul Shorey. "And how," said Thrasymachus, "shall I persuade you? For if you haven't been persuaded by what I was saying just now, what more can I do for you? Or should I insert my teaching [tOY A.0yov], betaking it into your soul?" "My God," was what I said, "Not you, indeed [J.Li) ou YE]." Republic I. 345b5-8; translation mine. "and this rule over children [i) tmv :n:u(l)wv oQXTJ], our not allowing them to be free until, as it were in a city, we will have established a polity [:n:OA.LtEiU] within them and, by fostering what is best [to {3EA. tLOtOV 8eQWtEuOUVtES] by the same sort of thing in ourselves, have set up in its place a similar guardian and ruler [q>UA.UXU OJ.LOLOV xul aQxovtu] in the child and then, indeed, we let it go free." Republic IX. 590e2-591a3; Shorey translation modified. Contents Acknowledgements Xl Preface to Plato the Teacher xiii An Introduction to Plato's Republic: Inside and Outside the Text 1 The First Words of Plato's I10AL't£LQ 37-76 § 1. XUtE�T)V 37 §2. X8t; 46 §3. Ei; llELQuLa 51 §4. !-LEta rAUUXWVO; 54 §5. toil AQlOtWVO; 65 2 Challenges 77-109 §6. Cephalus and the Meaning of Life 77 §7. Polemarchus Meets Appearance and Reality 82 §8. Thrasymachus and the City of Good Men Only 87 §9. G laucon' s Challenge to Socrates 101 § 10. The Challenge of Adeimantus to Plato 105 3 The Shorter Way 111-169 § II. Introduction to Methodology III § 12. Methodology II: Hypotheses 117 § 13. Methodology III: Images 129 § 14. Looking Out for Number One 142 § 15. Making Friends with Thrasymachus 158 4 The Longer Way 171-243 § 16. The Speech to the Guardians 171 § 17. Justice and the Good on the Divided Line 181 §18. The Idea of the Good and Plato's Theory of Forms 185 § 19. An Intellectual History of the Return 204 §20. Whistling a Tune on the Way Down 236 ix