Attaining Virtue in The Republic of Plato - 695 Words

In the Republic of Plato, the philosopher Socrates lays out his notion of the good, and draws the conclusion that virtue must be attained before one can be good. For Socrates there are two kinds of virtue; collective and individual. Collective virtue is virtue as whole, or the virtues of the city. Individual virtue pertains to the individual himself, and concerns the acts that the individual does, and concerns the individual’s soul. For Socrates, the relationship between individual and collective virtue is that they are the same, as the virtues of the collective parallel those of the Individual. This conclusion can be reached as both the city and the soul deal with the four main virtues of wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice. To be begin with, an individual cannot be good until they have attained the virtue of wisdom, and the same can be said for the city. For the individual, the person must not only be wise himself, but his soul must have wisdom. The only way to achieve this according to Socrates, is through for philosophy. In this way it is the same for the city, for in the city, wisdom lies with the guardians as they are the philosophers. The guardians are put in charge of the city because of their knowledge of how the city should be run. Because of this, the Guardians wisdom becomes the City’s. (Book IV) The second virtue that must be attained is courage. For the Individual, courage must be in the soul to resist temptations, and to be ready to fight. The same is forShow MoreRelatedThe Soul And Consciousness Of Revolutionary Politics1482 Words   |  6 Pagescontrasting the political psychology of Plato’s Republic and Karl Marx’s political theory. Their concepts of group consciousness will be contrasted as well as how the nature and existence of ideology affect their theories. This will be concluded by a discussion on how the understanding of political psychology contributes to our concepts of political duty and freedom. 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