The Republic by Plato Book Review

📌Category: Books, Literature, Plato
📌Words: 1004
📌Pages: 4
📌Published: 03 May 2021

The Republic book is the longest of Platonic dialogues; the Republic contains the most incredible wealth of humor and imagery, extensive sarcasm, and the most influential dramatic art. The discussions in the Republic consist of many interlocutors, but the main one is Socrates. They talked about what is justice? And why should we be Just? Many characters were discussing this question, such as Socrates, Polemarchus, Cephalus and a few others. Beyond, they were sitting at the house of Polemarchus’ his father Cephalus. Socrates and Cephalus started a quick debate on the subject of justice. However, Cephalus is the first to offer a definition for Justice; he defines justice as an attempt to articulate the basic Hasidic conception, and he has different arguments.

Cephalus was a rich man in his city, he speaks Greek, and he was a businessman. He was around 80 years old, and he was wearing a garland and sitting on a sort of cushioned stool. He had just been conducting a sacrifice in the courtyard when Socrates and the other were sitting with him. Cephalus greeted Socrates when he saw him; besides, he was happy to talk to him, and Socrates said that he likes to talk to the older people, and he said If they are a long road ahead of us on a path, we're going to have to travel. Socrates asked Cepheus would you call poets call a difficult time of life? Cephalus said there are a bunch of people who meet up pretty regularly. We're thinking about the continual age; thus, we're following the old proverbs. After we talk to most of them, they tend to protest. Besides, they say that they lack the things they want to enjoy while young and recognize their sexual conquests, partying, feasting, and everything linked to those pleasures. They get frustrated as if they have suffered a loss of life as if they had lived an extraordinary life, whereas now they are not alive at all. Some of them often complain about the parents' loss of appreciation for more aged years, and they cite a long list of complaints against old age. He said that they are blaming the wrong place. If old age is to be blamed, not only would Cephalus have felt the same old age, also the people who have reached this age. Cephalus said he knew many people who are not like this, most particularly Sophocles the poet. Sophocles was very famous. Somebody asked him, How is your sex life Sophocles? Are you still capable of making love to a woman? So here is another older man being teased by the younger people. Sophocles, carefulness said, it is with the greatest relief that I have escaped, like escaping from our fears and frenzied Master. Old age is a time of intense happiness and freedom from that kind of thing (Plato, 329). Then Cephalus said another justice definition: That justice means living up to your legal obligations and being honest. He gave that counter-example. He says, Cephalus, if, you know, like a legal obligation, returning what you own. You borrowed something, so you have to replace it that is a legal obligation which you have to pay your debts, and if you take something from somebody else, you have to return it. So he came on careful of Socrates' command carefully. Socrates said, assume someone who was on their right mind offers you their weapons so that they can protect them. And then they're returning, and they asked you for the same guns. Yet something happened to them when they came back. They're slightly crazy, and they are almost insane. You're trying to send a gun back to someone who's gone mad to someone who isn't in the right mental state. Cephalus lays out a new definition of justice. For instance, Justice means that you owe friends help, and you awe enemies harm. Polemarchus says I have a good explanation than my father. He said it's just that you're giving support to your mates and hurting your enemies. Simonides says about justice, "That it is just to pay everyone what is owed to him”(Plato, 331). Cephalus said what Simonides meant when he says it is just to pay back what is owed or due.

I agreed with Socrates when he said that we have to learn from older people's lifetime and listen to them because they have life experience and pass with more situations that people could learn from it as Socrates said that they travelled a long road in life (Plato, 328). Young people shouldn’t blame older individuals. Usually, people who talk of old age are awful, and unhappy people are filthy all their lives. So the person doesn't get old age. It's the person you need to pay attention to, and when someone is young and unhappy, they're going to be depressed even when they're growing up because they can't fix it. I disagreed with Socrates that I would not really give the gun back and know that it could hurt you or someone else.  I guess there are always exceptions to those roles. Maybe in a different situation, if they came back. Although in this case, it would be better to keep the weapons because you know that this guy is not in their right mind, and you would be putting yourself or others at risk. I can't fully agree with Cephalus on that. I don't think it's productive to throw negative energies on your rivals or disrespect them, or suggest something which could help them. I believe it's smarter for you to handle everyone instead of. I agree that you have to pay all your debt or pay all that you owed for someone because if you died, you wouldn’t put any of your relatives in trouble.

All in All, So, among a community of mates and aggressive, Socrates in the initial asks what justice is? In a very traditional way of Socrates, he ignores any argument that has been made. He does so by illustrating all of them who have implicit conflicts, while simultaneously, as though he says to everyone, that's not a good description. Socrates does not have his own explanation. So, at the end of their dialogue, he noted Aporia is a Greek word, essentially means deadlock, or it means you're trapped, and they did get to the meaning.                                                     

References:

Plato. “Book one”. The Republic. Edited by G. R. F. Ferrari, University of California, Berkeley, Translated by Tom Griffith, pages 1-37.

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