This is the oldest book I could find! It was written nearly 2,5 thousand!!! years ago, but most of the ideas are acute even now! I’m sure it’s worth getting acquainted with the key thoughts!
So, 30-seconds overview / 3 key thoughts of the book:
1. Justice is minding one’s own business - responsibly play our appropriate role (acknowledge it and then ably fulfil it) and thereby benefit both ourselves and our society
2. Society and souls are divided into 3 parts: city rulers (rational part of the soul), guardians (spirited part of the soul), farmers and craft workers (desirous part of the soul). Every person has all the three parts, but some prevail
3. Life of cities cycles from aristocracy (best people) - to timocracy (honour people) - oligarchy (money people) - democracy (mixed people) to tyranny (ego of one man) and back (spurred by the ruled revolting against the rulers).
3-minutes overview:
1. What is justice
1. Polemarchus (to give each person what they are owed / assisting friends and fighting enemies) - Socrates thinks that insane people or who threaten to do harm to others should not be given what they are owed; finds there are not any circumstances under which it is moral to do harm; and we can mistake friends for enemies
2. Thrasymachus (whatever is advanteous to the ruler) - Socrates thinks the ruler should aim to do good for his city (I personally think that there is an option where those aims are synchronized (perhaps in a totally transparent city))
3. So his own definition - “minding one’s own business” - responsibly play our appropriate role (acknowledge it and then ably fulfill it) and thereby benefit both ourselves and our city
2. How to define appropriate roles?
1. Just institutions should educate inhabitants on their appropriate roles (not everyone is appropriate for every role)
2. Ones role is shaped by the need of the city and individual’s skills.
3. In a just city - city’s need and individual’s needs work symbiotically. The city benefits from its people and the people benefit from it. (and again I remember the Reinventing Organizations by Frederick Laloux - the same thoughts, although 2 394 years have passed)
4. Socrates “However, in founding the city we are not looking to the exceptional happiness of any one group among us but, as far as possible, that of the city as a whole”
5. Without a just city (whose laws benefit not the few) - just individuals cannot exist
6. Unjust cities are often ruled by tyrants, whose unjust acts are used to build a reputation of justice - laws favour him and disfavour all who go against him
7. Just city will give rise to just individuals who can offer an account for their actions and debate what constitutes their justness
3. Sound education
1. One that enables a healthy mind and body
2. For example - music (mind and soul through rhythm and harmony - both bestow balanced mental order) and gymnastics (solidifies group cooperation)
4. The soul is like a speech, because it has a reason and logic
1. The soul of a person can be revealed through conversation with that person and through his/her explanations of his/her behavior (I doubt that’s possible in all cases as sometimes we don’t quite understand what we are doing, but in most of them - maybe)
2. Laws for the city are like a speech for a person
5. City and soul are divided into three parts
1. City rulers (rational part of the soul, informed by reason and logic, create laws). City rulers must be philosophers (desire wisdom, have a thirst for knowledge). They decide which roles fit each individual and what the people should learn. Rational sometimes doesn’t mean popular (For example, it can be near-impossible trying to persuade someone exercise regularly - 😂😂😂. So True even today; remarkably, Socrates cited this very example). Philosophers strive to reveal the truth and liberate the prisoners of common misconceptions
2. Guardians (spirited part of the soul - upholds the laws, it maintains order between reason and emotion, striking a balance between arduous calculation and hasty decisions).
3. Farmers and craft workers (desirious part of the soul, controlled by natural desires, comply to laws)
4. Every person has all the three parts, but some prevail)
6. Five types of government
1. Life of cities cycles from aristocracy to tyranny and back (spurred by the ruled revolting against the rulers).
2. Aristocracy - the optimal form of government. “Rule of the best”. Win support with rational, philosophic lectures.
3. Timocracy - run according to honor. Cannot reason well. Win support with rhetoric and impassioned speeches
4. Oligarchy - money rules the city. Whoever has more money can buy their way into office
5. Democracy - mixed freedom rules. Poorer citizens protest against the enequality of the oligarchy. Freedom, including free speech, to everyone. Everyone may do as they wish.
6. Tyranny - the permissive freedom of democracy affords tyrant an opportunity to push forward.
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