This essay examines books VIII-IX of the Republic and sets forth Plato’s account of the characterological decay of the individual soul. Just as city’s degenerate with time, falling from philosophical aristocracy to timocracy, timocracy to oligarchy, oligarchy to democracy, and democracy to tyranny, so too do the individuals who live within them. Indeed, Socrates notes …
In this essay, I explore Book 8 of The Republic and set forth Plato’s theory of cultural decline. In Book 8 of The Republic, Plato returns to the theme of how his ideal city degenerates into various lesser forms of government: Philosophical aristocracy falling to timocracy, timocracy to oligarchy, oligarchy to democracy, and finally democracy …
In book 5 of the Republic, Socrates argues that women should be admitted into the guardian class and receive the same education as the men. This would have been a shocking claim for others in the ancient world. For example, one can contrast Plato’s philosophical inclusivity, with St. Paul’s injunction: “Let a woman learn quietly …