一、 蘇格拉底先讀小字後讀大字的策略何以能獲得對話者的共鳴，而得以進行理想城邦的構築？
關鍵字: justice, necessary evil
There are two kinds of political
justice, the justice belonging to a city-state or individual. Since a city is
bigger than a man, he will proceed upon the guess that it is easier to first
look for justice at the political level and later inquire as to whether there
is any comparable quality to be found in the individual. To locate political
justice, he will build up a perfectly just city from scratch, and see where and
when justice enters it.
Socrates introduces
the foundational principle of human society, the principle of specialization.
The principle of specialization states that each person must perform the role
for which he is naturally best suited and that he must not meddle in any other
business.
Having isolated the foundational principle of the city,
Socrates is ready to begin building it. The first roles to fill are those that
will provide for the necessities of life, such as food, clothing, health, and
shelter. Craftsmen, farmers, and doctors who each do their own job and refrain
from engaging in any other role populate the just city. They are all members of
what Socrates deems the “producing class,” because their role is to produce
objects for use. Socrates calls this city the “healthy city” because it is
governed only by necessary desires. In the healthy city, there are only
producers, and these producers only produce what is absolutely necessary for
life.
The next stage is to transform this city into the
luxurious city. Once luxuries are in demand, positions like merchant, actor,
poet, tutor, and beautician are created. All of this wealth will necessarily
lead to wars, and so a class of warriors is needed to keep the peace within the
city and to protect it from outside forces. The producers cannot act as our
warriors because that would violate our principle of specialization.
Glaucon points out that most people class justice. They
view justice as a necessary evil, which we allow ourselves to suffer in order
to avoid the greater evil that would occur if we did away with it. Justice
stems from human weakness and vulnerability. Justice is not something practiced
for its own sake but something one engages in out of fear and weakness.
Glaucon uses the legend of the ring of Gyges to emphasis
his point. He asks us to imagine that a just man is given a ring that makes him
invisible. Once in possession of this ring, the man can act unjustly with no
fear of punishment. No one can deny, Glaucon claims that even the most just man
would behave unjustly if he had this ring. He would indulge all of his
materialistic, power-hungry, and erotically lustful urges. This story proves that people are only just because they are afraid of
punishment for injustice. No one is just because justice is desirable in
itself.
三 、為什麼蘇格拉底主張無私產、無自有住所和妻孺共有等規定是城邦衛士得以保持純正的生活條件？您願意在這些規定下擔任國家統治者？
關鍵字: authoritarian, personal freedom
The guardians, we are told, all live together in housing
provided for them by the city-state. Guardians receive no wages and can hold no
private wealth or property. They are supported entirely by the city through the
taxation of the producing class. It is unlawful for them to even handle gold or
silver because that it is sinful for them to mix earthly gold and silver with
the divine silver and gold in their souls. Socrates’s reasoning is clear, if
the guardians are permitted to acquire private property, they will inevitably
abuse their power and begin to rule for their own gain, rather than the good of
the entire city. Due to the rulers incentive for guardians to continue their
duties to carry out the decisions of the rulers, they are not allowed to have
purchase or ownership power.
I would not want to be
a ruler of in this type of society. Many people may feel that Plato’s republic
is an authoritarian society. Book 3, many of the authoritarian aspects comes
forth. Personal freedom is not valued. The good of the state overrides all
other considerations. Social classes are rigid, and people are sorted into
these classes with no thought to their preferences. They are given no input
when the state determines what life they will lead. A citizen’s fate—producer,
warrior, or ruler—is decided at an early age, and no provisions are made for
individuals to shift classes as they mature.
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