Most commentaries on the Republic rush through Book I with embarrassment because the arguments of the participants, including Socrates, are specious. Beginning with Book II, the arguments are brilliant, so why did Plato write Book I? Lycos shows that the function of Book I is to attack the view that justice is external to the soul--external to the power humans have to render things good--and is merely instrumental to a good society. The dramatic situation in Book I presents justice as internal, requiring not laws, but ...
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Most commentaries on the Republic rush through Book I with embarrassment because the arguments of the participants, including Socrates, are specious. Beginning with Book II, the arguments are brilliant, so why did Plato write Book I? Lycos shows that the function of Book I is to attack the view that justice is external to the soul--external to the power humans have to render things good--and is merely instrumental to a good society. The dramatic situation in Book I presents justice as internal, requiring not laws, but discrimination and virtue. After this introduction, the rest of the Republic serves to sketch out what virtue is and how to practice discrimination. Plato on Justice and Power ends with some illuminating contrasts between this sense of virtue and that characteristic of our modern liberal politics which takes an external view of justice similar to the Athenians view at the time of Plato.
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Add this copy of Plato on Justice and Power: Reading Book 1 of Plato's to cart. $38.95, new condition, Sold by Half Moon Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Kingston, NY, UNITED STATES, published 1987 by SUNY Press.
Add this copy of Plato on Justice and Power: Reading Book I of Plato's to cart. $54.91, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1987 by State University of New York P.
Add this copy of Plato on Justice and Power: Reading Book I of Plato's to cart. $65.51, new condition, Sold by Revaluation Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Exeter, DEVON, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1987 by State Univ of New York Pr.
Add this copy of Plato on Justice and Power: Reading Book 1 of Plato's to cart. $65.62, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1987 by State Univ of New York Pr.
Add this copy of Plato on Justice and Power: Reading Book I of Plato's to cart. $91.40, new condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1987 by State University of New York P.
