Abstract
Although it serves as the ontological and axiological ground for Plato’s political proposal, the tripartite soul theory will remain crippled if we ignore Plato’s criticism of pre-Platonic cultural practices (especially of imitative poetry) and the influence of those cultural practices on the psychological configuration of individuals. With this aspect in mind, this paper has two main objectives: (i) to place Plato’s psychology in the whole context of politics of the soul, with emphasis on the objective sense of this expression (i.e. politics for the soul); and (ii) to emphasize the connection between Plato’s theory of the soul in the Republic and his criticism of imitative poetry in books II, III and X. I will try to show that artistic representation is both a psychological and a political experience: a psycho-political experience which involves metaphysical, epistemological, psychological, and moral dimensions. What is the effect of imitative poetry on human soul? And to what extent does this effect compromise Plato’s psycho-political project?
Sit down in silence, my friend, and be persuaded by my story
Homer, Iliad IV, 412
It seems to me that all deception is a form of sorcery
R. III 413 c
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Notes
- 1.
R. IV 434 d ff. For the translation of R. I will use Reeve 2004.
- 2.
R. IV 443c4ff
- 3.
- 4.
R. IX 591 e1–2; cf. X 608b1
- 5.
R. III 413 e3–4.
- 6.
R. IV 443d-444a.
- 7.
Laks 2007, p. 265.
- 8.
‘A citizen was, in general, a little landowner or artisan who performed military and political functions. The latter consisted in being a jury or taking part in the decisions of the assembly, the state highest authority. In Greece, democracy allowed and demanded to be multifunctional’. See Gómez Lobo , 1993, p. 338.
- 9.
Havelock 1963, p. 12.
- 10.
- 11.
R. V 470 b5–470 d; VIII 550 e9-560a. Warlike terminology already appears in Phd. in line with the contrast between body and soul. Bodily appetites cause many wars (πόλεμοι), civil wars (στάσεις) and conflicts (μάχαι) (66 b8-c7).
- 12.
Boeri 2010, p. 292; cf. R. IV 436a.
- 13.
- 14.
Cf. Vegetti 1998, p. 30.
- 15.
R. IV 423 e-424a.
- 16.
Klosko 2006, p. 124.
- 17.
Klosko 2006, pp. 124–125.
- 18.
I use the term ‘art’ in a broad sense in order to include all the artistic representations examined in R.: epic genre, dithyramb, tragedy and also painting, which has an important place in book X.
- 19.
‘…there is no twofold or manifold man among us (διπλοῦς ἀνὴρ παρ’ ἡμῖν οὐδὲ πολλαπλοῦς)’ (R. 397e).
- 20.
For these aspects, Havelock 1963, especially part I.
- 21.
As Klosko suggests, ‘Plato views the mind as an active probing force, which responds constantly to its environment and is attracted especially to aesthetic creations. Plato is somewhat unusual among political philosophers in the extent to which he believes artistic products affect the soul. Probably no other important political philosopher had as much respect for art, while the political implications are apparent: if art is so powerful, it must be carefully controlled. It is not surprising to see a large portion of the Republic –and a smaller though still significant percentage of the Lg.- given over to regulating the arts ’ (Klosko 2006, p. 125).
- 22.
- 23.
This is not the place to treat a topic which is nonetheless very interesting: to what extent is the threefold soul doctrine explicated in book IV coherent with the arguments found in book X? In the latter Plato uses two arguments to show that the soul is divided into two areas: rationality and irrationality. In the first argument (602 c-603 a) he offers the example of optical illusions to distinguish between the soul part which calculates, measures and weighs and the other part which assumes appearances with no criticism. In the second case, the perceptive conflict is replaced by an emotional one: when we face concrete and intense situations, we feel opposite inclinations. One part of our soul leads to an excessive expression of our passions , and the other tends to restrain, contain and moderate such expressions. I take this to be an interesting discussion, which Moss presents 2008 in a convincing way.
- 24.
‘And the same things appear bent and straight when seen in water or out of it, or concave and convex because sight is misled by colors; and every other similar sort of confusion is clearly present in our soul’ (R. X 602c-603a).
- 25.
‘And haven’t measuring, counting, and weighing proved to be most welcome assistants in these cases, ensuring that what appears bigger or smaller or more numerous or heavier does not rule within us, but rather what has calculated or measured or even weighed?’ (R. X 603a ff).
- 26.
Moss 2008, p. 35.
- 27.
Plato states that the death of a child belongs to what he calls ‘seeming evils’ (613a, τῶν δοκούντων κακῶν).
- 28.
Achilles is presented as an example of contradictory and excessive behavior when expressing affection (R. III 388a-c).
- 29.
R. X 605b7-c4.
- 30.
R. X 605a9 ff.
- 31.
Nietzsche 2001, pp. 83–4.
- 32.
Ibid. pp. 84–5.
- 33.
R. X 606a-e.
- 34.
Havelock 1963, p. 40.
- 35.
R. II 381a 3–4.
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de los Ríos, I. (2018). Politics of the Soul in Plato’s Republic . In: Boeri, M.D., Kanayama, Y.Y., Mittelmann, J. (eds) Soul and Mind in Greek Thought. Psychological Issues in Plato and Aristotle. Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind, vol 20. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78547-9_6
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