Miller Final Exam Study Guide

Plato's Republic Exam Study Guide The exam will be two hours and thirty minutes. The first thirty minutes will be devotedto Greek philosophical terms; the next two hours will be devotedto two essayquestions (one hour per essay). I. ProvisionalList of GreekTerms Six Greek philosophical terms----orsetsof terms-will appearon the exaln. You will be askedto define eachone: provide a rangeof English translationsthat approximatePlato's usageof the term, discussthe context in which Plato usesit, and its philosophical significancefor him. ndA6,[IoArcela gdng v6p,og, Dix,r1, d)mia, )marcaiv,r1 rAeove(ia otoT,E, r6Aep,og auTaQxes rip'q iqyov, riAog d,peri1, xaxo,fi*em Seis ouotx,i1,rorfiary, p,ip,,r1ng T.t a,Qpovtq,

Ed,gtrtaxov (ytvvaorv) tltetDog iarqdg, DmaorilE

fuy'fi,rdpta ravroDard,

A6yog,Aoyop,6g,rtt Aoyotxiv fup6s,il Sug,oetllE inSug,ia, r) irnSup,,r1n x6v d,xqaola Dtxaroalvq, aurppoa,jv,rl, d,vDqeia, aogla htar'fip,q, D6(a Ddvap,6 d,A'fi9eru rptA6roqog, rpA6)o{05 il iiv, ri p,,i1iiv efDos,Dia .yivenE l{aigv,ttg eixaala (eixdy), rio-ng, ltd,vom,vo,r1ory ,, aro7r0s

xa))ino),ry, d,gmr6g, d,Enoxgaria np,aqyia, np,oxgarla, np,oxpatxig iAtyapyla, LAryappxiE oi rcMoi, oi iAiTot Drlp,oxparia, D,rltr t oxpan x6g,

Dfitos rugavvig, rugavvm,6g,ripavvog e?u9 gtAorlp,oE, 9rA6oo9o9, grAoyq,fip,aroE d,vaTxaiEirnSup,la eAeuSepia, DouAeia d,vd,7xr1 d,Savada p,i9oE noAJrponoE

II. ProvisionalEssayQuestions Two essayquestionswill appearon the exam.You will be askedto answereachone with an essayof approximatelyan hour's length. 1. In Book I of Republic,Socratesconsidersand then criticizesthe definitionsof justice profferedby three successiveinterlocutors:Cephalus,Polemarchus,and Thrasymachus.Beginning with Cephalus,what is his definition, what seemsto motivate it, and how does Socratesrefute it? Moving next to Polemarchus,what is his definition ofjustice, how is it an heir to his father's,and what are two of the argumentsSocratesusesto reject it? How sound are thesearguments?What are their flaws? Finishingwith Thrasymachus,what is his definition ofjustice, what is its broadermeaning, and what are three argumentsSocratesusesto reject it? Again, how sound are thesearguments?If they have flaws, are they related to those of Socrates'earlier critique of Polemarchus?Surveying this whole

conversationof Book 1, what patternsof thought standout to the eyesof a critical reader?With thesepatternsin mind, what might be the deeperlessonsof Book 1, especiallyfor epistemologyand ethics?(In your answerto this question,you shouldfind especiallyusefulthe following articles:Barneyand Weiss.)

2. Between 352a8and 354c3, at the end of Book I of Republic, Soqates advances what has since becomeknown as "the function argument." (Aristotle adoptsand revisesit in the first book of his NicomacheanEthics, making it foundational for his ethical thought, and thereby the ethical thought of many subsequent philosophers.)First, rehearsethis argument,schematizingit as succinctly and accuratelyas possible. Second,evaluateit. How soundan argumentis it? What, if any, are its flaws? Third, whether or not this argument is sound,what does it revealaboutPlato's (not to mention Aristotle's) world-view? Finally, make the just a few pages,and apparently casethat this quick argument----occupying abandonedby Socratesas he risesto the renewedchallengeto justice posedby Glaucon-forecasts the centralpoint of his full reply to this challenge.(In your answerto this question,you shouldfind especiallyuseful the following articles we have read: Barney and Santas.) J.

What is Glaucon'schallengeto Socratesat the beginningof Book 2 of Republic? Crudely put, he wantshim to defendjustice, but, more finely, as if inspiredby Thrasymachus'searlierchallenge,Glauconwants Socratesto defendjustice in a particular way. With what distinction doeshe thereforebegin his challenge?What two demandsdoes he then make of Socrates?Finally, in what three stagesdoes he then articulatehis challenge?Socratesfeelsoverwhelmedas it is, but Adeimantus supplementshis brother'schallengewith two additionalconsiderations.What are they, and how do they make Socrates'task tougherthan it alreadyseemed?In the face of sucha dauntingchallenge,what is Socrates'answer?In effect,this answer is the rest of Republic,so you must distill its most importantparts,providing only an outline of the answer'sconclusion.But with that limit in mind. assesswhether or not Plato's Socratesanswersthe challengeput to him by Plato's brothers.(In your own answerto this question,you shouldfind especiallyuseful the following articleswe have read:Rowe, Weiss,Singpurwalla,Kamtekar(AZ).)

4. What is the principle of political philosophy?What explainsthe constitutionof our polities?Whencearosepolitical society?What motivatesus, most deeply,to obey the restrictions of political life? Three very different speakersin the first two Books of Republic,using threevery different philosophicalmethods,offer three very different answersto theserelated questions:Thrasymachus,Glaucon, and Socrates.Presentin successionthesealternatives,paying equalattentionboth to the content of their answersand the method of their arguments.As you do so, evaluatethe advantagesand disadvantagesof eachmethod, so that by the end of your presentationyou may make an informed comparisonof their answers.Of thesethree approachesto political philosophy,which one comesclosestto the principle of politics? (In your answerto this question,you shouldfind especially useful the following articles we have read: Santasand Weiss.)

5 . At the end of Book 2 Socratesarguesthat gods never lie. What is this argument? Is it sound?Whether or not it is, Socratesusesit-and other conclusionsabout both gods and heroesin Book 3 as well-to bowdlerize some of the most important and poignant passagesof Greek epic poetry. This is part of his campaignagainstthe poets, whom he criticizes here and elsewherein Republic for their deceptions.Why doesPlato considerthem deceivers?Here you should addressthe three argumentsof Book 10. How sound are thesearguments?And what abouthis "noble lie"? Is this not a hypocriticalact of deceptionon Plato's own part? Does this apparenthypocrisy undermine Plato's campaignagainstthe poets, let alone his highest philosophical aspiration-namely, to know the truth? If not, why doesSocratesthink this lie justified? What might be said in his favor? Can therebe a noble lie? (In your answerto this question,you shouldfind especiallyuseful the following articleswe have read: McPherran,Lear, Schofield, Moss, and Halliwell.) 6. What is Plato's psychology?Beginningwith the argumentin Book 4, show how Socratesdivides the soul into threeparts.How soundis this argument?What objections might be raised againstit? Can they be met? One objection many have posed is that the distinctions are not clear betweenthe desiresof eachpart. One popularreply to this objectionis that rationaldesiresdependexclusivelyon the good, appetitivedesiresdependnot at all on the good, and spiriteddesiresdepend to someextent(thoughtnot exclusively)on the good. What evidencedoes Republicoffer for thesecriteria of desire?How good is this evidence?What evidencedoesRepublic offer againstthesecriteria?How good is this countervailingevidence?Are all desires,accordingto Plato in Republic,for the good?Why doesit matter?(In your answerto this question,you shouldfind especiallyuseful the following articleswe have read: Moss (AZ), Miller (AZ) Anagnostopoulos,Lorenz, and Ferrari.)

7. What is Socrates'definition ofjustice at the end of Book4 of Republic?How doesthis definition not only answerthe question-What is justice?-with which the dialoguebeganin Book 1, but also answerGlaucon'schallenge-Show that perfectjustice is preferableto perfectinjustice-with which the dialogueresumed in Book 2? Is either answersuccessful?If not, what are their shortcomings?How are theseshortcomingsremediedby the subsequentdiscussionsof the dialogue? Do theseremedieswork? Why or why not? Whetheror not they do, how doesthis definition ofjustice sublimateboth the conclusionof the function argumentin Book I and the principle of specializationin Book 2? How, moreover,doesthis definition sublimatethe variousdefinitionsproferredbut rejectedin Book l? Are any of these sublimationscircular arguments?If not, what is the value of sublimation as a philosophical technique?(In your answerto this question,you should find especially useful the following articles we have read: Barney, Santas, and Kosman.)

8 . Describethe utopia Socratespresentsin Book 5 of Republic. What are the three wavesof criticism he anticipatesthis presentationwill meet?What are his reasons for advancingthesecontroversialpolitical innovations, and what argumentsdoes he use to resistthese'waves'? How sinceredo you think Socratesis in this presentationand argumentation?What reasonsmight be adducedto arguethat he is being ironic? What reasonsmight be adducedto resistthat argument?On this samequestion-utopia and irony-what role doesthe so-called'city of pigs' play in the dialogue?After all, somethink it is Socrates'sincereutopia,whereasthe utopia of Book 5 is only his second-best offer. What are the argumentsfor and againstthis thought,and how, assessingtheir relativemerits,do you standon this question?In your assessment, be surenot to neglectthe role of the philosopher. How do Plato and his character,Socrates,understandthe relationship between philosophyand politics? (In your answerto this question,you shouldfind especiallyuseful the following articleswe haveread: Ludwig, Saxonhouse, Franks, Morri son, Singpurwalla (AZ), and Strauss.) 9. One of the most importantand memorabledoctrinesof Republicis that of the Forms.They assumea centerstagein Republiconly in the last third of Book 5, but there receive a subtle argument in their defense,one we might characterizeas 'epistemological'sinceit beginswith an epistemicdistinction.What is this distinction,and how soundis the argumentthat Socratesdevelopsfrom it? Once you have assessed the argumenton its own terms,discusswhy Socrates introducesit and the the doctrineof Forms it defendsat this precisepoint in the dialogue.Once you have assessed the argumentand discussedits immediate context,show how it and the doctrineof Formsnot only look forward to the epistemologicaland ontologicalimagesof Books 6 and 7,but also backwardto the psychologyof Book 4. (ln your answerto this question,you shouldfind especiallyuseful the following articleswe have read: Sedley,Penner,Miller

(^z).)

10.Plato's Republicis full of images,many of them quite detailedand vivid. Among the most vivd and detailed are the three at the heart of the work-the Sun, the Line, and the Cave-which illustratethe centralontologicaland epistemological distinctionsof the dialogue.Recounttheseimagesin order,paying special attentionto the following threequestions.First, sinceimagesand imaginationare at the bottom of the Line, what might Plato be sayingaboutthe credibility of these imagesthemselves?Second,in what ways doesthe Cave synthesizethe two earlierimages?And third, what are the political elementsof the Cave,and how doesthis imagebring the ontology and epistemologyof Republicto bearon the political and ethical investigationofjustice with which the dialoguebeganand to which it returns shortly afterwards?(In your answerto this question,you should find especiallyuseful the following articleswe have read: Sedley,Denyer,Miller, Reeve(AZ),Lear (AZ), Ferejohn.)

11. In Books 8-9 Socratesresumeswherehe left off, atthe end of Book 4, by describingthe declineof his utopia into four degenerateregimes:timocracy, oligarchy, democracy,and tyranny. Describethe most important features of each constitution, and why Socratesthinks eachone emergesfrom its predecessor. If this story is more an amusing nanative, is there a logic of decline at work, lhan one or more principlesof politics that predict the trajectoryof any political society?If so, what are theseprinciples, and how iniegral are they io the rest of the Socrates'views in Republic,especiallyhis psychology?After all, for every political constitutionthereis a correlativecharacter,a psychological constitution. Describethe most important featuresof each of these,and whySocrates thinks each one emergesfrom its predecessor.what, if any, are the principles of psychologicaldecline?How similar are theseprinciplesto those ofpolitical decline,and how are they inter-related?Finally, which story, if either, primary: is the political or the psychological?(In you unr*"r to this question,you sirould find especiallyuseful the following articleswe have read:Hitz (Az),Bliissner, Strauss,and Parry.) 72-rn Book 9 Socratesfinally presentshis responseto Glaucon,schallenge, his argumentthatjustice is good for its own sake,whateverits consequen"ces. Indeed, his argumentis supposedto convinceus that realjustice with the appearanceof injustice (andthus punishments)is preferableeven to real injusticethat has assumedthe appearance(andthus the rewards)ofjustice. of his three arguments-the comparisonof the philosopherand the tyrant, the decision of competentjudges,namelyphilosophers,and finally the purity and truth of philosophicpleasure-he is most confidentin the ihi.d. Ho* doesthis third argument work, and is it sound?What are the objects of pure and true pleasure, and what is the subjectof this pleasure?In what way do toth these objlcts and this subjectrespectthe principle of opposites(or principle of non-coniradiction)? How, then, doesthe distinctionbetweenreal and illurory pleasure, not to mention the distinctionbetweenreal and illusory justice, in sum,the deepest of all distinctionsin the dialogue,dependon a logical principie?(In ybur answerto this question,you shouldfind especiallyusefulthe following articleswe have read: Penner,Kosman,Sedley,Miller ( Z)) l3' In Book 70 of Republic, Socratesadvancesan argumentfor the immortality of the soul' What is this argument,and how valid and soundis it? How might we object to it, and how might Socratesrespondto our objections?Whether or not he would defendhis argument,Socrateswould likely cling tenaciouslyto his faith in the immortality of the soul. But what can he say, in the end, about this soul that he believesto survive bodily death?He resortsfirst to an image, that of the sea-god Glaucus,and then to a myth, that of Er. what does the image imply about our immortal selves,and what doesthe myth imply about their eschatalogical destiny? Do theseimplicationsraiseany problemsfoi earlierdoctrines in Repibtrc? If so, what is happeningin thesestrangefinal pagesof the dialogue? (In your answerto this question'you shouldfind especially-useful the following articleswe have read:Halliwell, Ferrari,Miller (AZ).)

14. At the heart of Republic is a memorable-indeed, an unforgettable-story: the Cave. We have consideredthe many ways in which this story condensesthe most importantlessonsof the dialogue,lessonsin ontology,epistemology,politics, psychology,and aesthetics.But perhapsmost importantof all theselessonsis pedagogical;the Cave illustrates the educationof the philosopher.Lest we forget: Republicitself is a pedagogicalexercise,in which Plato is teachingus, his readers,to becomephilosophers.In this way, the Cave story is our story as we read the dialogue itself--our painful going up and our bewildering return below. Tell thesetwo storiestogether,the story of being educatedby this dialogue, from its first Book to its last, alongsidethe story of the philosopher who is educated within it, in Book 7. Draw upon your knowledge of those doctrinesmentioned above, and, when most pertinent, the argumentsSocratesusesto develop and defend them. But also draw upon our considerationof this dialogue as a work of art, as an artfully composedconversation,a special sort of conversationwhose goal is to changethe structureof your soul. (In your answerto this question,you shouldfind especiallyuseful the following articleswe have read:Lear,Lear (AZ), Reeve(AZ), RichardsonLear, Barney.)

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