Phaedrus by Plato

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Lysias is reported by Phaedrus as having argued that :

" it is better to be loved by one who does not love than by one who does "

for the lover is moved by passion and can do harm.

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Socrates at first agrees that :

" love is irrational and therefore harmful ",

but on reflection he maintains that :

" madness is sometime divine,and that love is a kind of divine madness ".

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The soul is like a winged charioteer driving a team of horses ;

the charioteer,if inspired by love of the ideal,

"is reason or intelligence in control of the good horse -Will- and the bad horse -Passion-".

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Souls which have seen the most of Being,

having known the eternal forms or Ideas of all things,

pass into the bodies of philosophers,or lovers of wisdom ;

souls which are disciplined and full of wisdom return to their heavenly home.

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Good rhetoric depends on having true knowledge ;

the Sophists are mistaken in claiming that

"the appearance of knowledge is all that is necessary".

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Republic by Plato

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'' What is Justice ? ''
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Thrasymachus suggests :
'' Justice is whatever is to the interrest of the stronger party
-since the stronger party makes the laws and enforces them- ''.
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Socrates argues :
'' Rulers sometimes err and that,in any case,
the art of government,
like other arts,
is directed to the interests of those to be affected,
the people themselves ''.
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Socrates claims :
'' The just man,
provided he has knowledge,
can rule both himself and others,
and that concern of the just man is not for himself alone ''.
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To clarify the idea of justice and to prove its worth,
Socrates leads a discussion concerning justice in the state ;
he constructs the idea of an ideal state,
one which exhibits justice.
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Any state needs :
1.guardians - rulers,
2.auxiliares - soldiers,and
3.workers .
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Each class does its proper business without interfering with the others ;
analogously :
..The just man is one in whom the three elements of his nature,
1.the rational,
2.the spirited,and
3.the appetive,
are harmonized.
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The IDEAL REPUBLIC is one in which,
the classes are carefully built up by
1.controlled breeding,
2.education,and
3.selection ;
Society is communized in order to eliminate quarrels about personal property.
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The guardians of the state should be educated as philosophers,
having been prepared by training in music and gymnastic.
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