Republic – Book IX

Tiago S. Teixeira – Nov. 06, 2009

Plato examines in Book IX of Republic the soul of a tyrannical man, and how it relates to

the constitution of a tyrannical city. Socrates previously described the nature of each type of

government and how one springs from another, as well as the individual characters of the men,

which gives rise to each city’s nature. After presenting his ideal city as “good and just”,

assimilated to aristocracy (239, 544e), and its respective man - the philosopher, Socrates

distinguishes the other constitutions as inferiors, and decreasing in the following order:

timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, and tyranny; all being presented in the political and individual

level. The purpose of this inquiry is to find out which of these cities is happiest and which is

most wretched, by comparing the one found to be the most just, to the most unjust one; and then

find out the happiest and most wretched man, relating them to his corresponding city.

Plato considers the constitution of the city as being made of 3 classes: the craftsman - for

its upkeep; the guardians - for its inner and outer protection; and the rulers to provide the

wellbeing of the city as a whole; and compares it to the 3 elements that constitute a man’s soul

respectively: physical appetites, spirit, and reason, in which reason should rule, allied with the

spirit element, over the appetites, taking care of each part to provide the welfare of the entire

soul. That is the foundation of justice, where each part is doing what is by nature its own

function. (119, 433a)

The last city to be examined by Socrates, and considered to be the unhappiest, slavish,

and poorest of all, is the one governed with tyranny. This city, which was given extreme freedom

in its democratic stage, became slave of its own pleasures and desires, becoming mostly

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enslaved, and having few free man (269, 569c); Such city is each time poorer as the tyrant

spends all its resources to protect himself, his position, and fulfill his desires (268, 568e);

because of that, the tyrant is always in danger, hated by the citizens and surrounded by

untrustworthy aliens, allied to protect him, or when even worse, the ones he can trust the most

happen to be the most inferior class: real slaves, employed as his bodyguard (267, 567e).

To begin understanding the tyrannical soul, Socrates gives an argument about the nature

of the appetitive element which has beside its necessary appetites, the “unnecessary desires”,

also considered to be “terrible, savage, and lawless” appetites. Such appetites are “clear to be

present in everyone” while asleep, but should be “held in check” by reason and the “better

appetites” through moderation (271, 572b). However, the person with the tyrannical soul, in

conformity with the tyrannical city, is ruled by these bad appetites and desires, and lives awake

like he is dreaming; and driven by “passion as the leader of all the other bad appetites” (273,

573e), he “adopts madness as its bodyguard and is stung to frenzy”, until his is purged of shame

and temperance (272, 573b); this way being led to “drunkenness, passion and melancholia” (272,

573c).

The tyrannical soul becomes even worse when after all resources are wasted, and the man

cannot satisfy such desires anymore, he becomes completely slavish, lawless, untrustworthy,

“full of disorder and regret”, poor, and full of factions; and therefore, completely unjust.

However the most wretched of all is not this man in particular, but the one who happens to

become an actual tyrant; for he “has to rule others when he cannot even master himself” (280,

579c); he is a “flatterer of the worst kind of people”, fearful and envious (280, 579e - 580a); and

therefore it is concluded that “the worst and most unjust is by far the most wretched” (281,

580c).

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 As there are 3 parts in the soul, there are 3 types of pleasures and also 3 types of people

to which they are related: the profit-loving, the victory-loving, and the wisdom-loving; and to

bring the account of who is happiest and most wretched to judgment, Socrates examines which

of them correctly claims to have a more pleasant life - by means of experience, knowledge and

argument (283, 582a). Since the philosopher, is the only one who have experienced all 3 kinds of

pleasures, “he is the finest to judge among the three types of men” (283, 582d); that experience is

acquired with the help of knowledge, which is attributed only to the philosopher, and therefore

his praise and argument is the closest to the truth (284, 582e).

Socrates takes wisdom, which is acquired through reason, to be the only genuine pleasure

of the soul, since it is the only one that can be satisfied from the things that are true; for “lack of

knowledge is some sort of emptiness of the soul” (287, 585b); This pleasure is superior to the

ones of the other two parts of the soul, which are not considered to be true pleasures, but rather

insatiable and misleading opinions of the sensory world. These are unable to reach the plenitude

of “what is always the same, immortal and true” (287, 585c), but they rather lie in a state

between pains and pleasures, where they believe “to be pleasure the absence of pain, and pain the

absence of pleasure” (286, 584a). However, with the help of knowledge, the entire soul should

look for the pleasures prescribed by reason, which sees the truth, in order to attain rather than an

alien pleasure, the best and truest pleasures possible for each element of the soul; “those that are

most their own”, and therefore “not engaging in faction”, the soul as a whole will be just and

virtuous (289, 586e).

The tyrant’s soul, which is always passionately looking for the means to satisfy its

irrational desires, lies between pains and pleasures, and acquiring aliens rather than its best

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pleasures, does it through ignorance of the truth (289, 586c); and as he is the most distant from

reason, he is the most distant from law and order; and so besides enslaved to appetites that are

the most distant from being for true pleasures, such appetites are illegitimate, and his soul is in

complete disorder; and therefore the tyrannical soul is concluded to be the most distant from

living pleasantly. (290, 287a-c)

To prove a third time that justice is really more pleasant and utile than injustice, Socrates

forms an image of a creature, formed by a savage beast with many heads – as a reference to the

multifarious aspect of the appetitive element; a lion – to represent the spirited element; and a

human being – to represent reason; all wrapped inside a human figure; and so he illustrates

justice and injustice inside this creature, and finds that in relation to the unjust one, it is as he

would be nourishing only the wild animals and weakening the human being, and all are enemies

and fighting among themselves; that is – weakening reason and being dominated by impetuosity

and desires. For the just creature, he takes care of the human being, which by caring for and

domesticating all the other creatures, makes them his allies and all are friends within the

creature. That is Socrate’s last argument to conclude that justice is always best whether in

pleasure, good reputation or advantage. (293, 589a-c)

Socrates concludes that he who praises injustice as good, profitable or pleasant, does it by

ignorance; and for lack of knowledge of what is true. He cannot see the good of justice, but is

hindered by the conventional views of what is fine or shameful (293, 589d); leading the soul to

the vices of “intemperance, stubbornness, peevishness, luxury, softness, cowardice, flattery, and

illiberality” (294, 590a-c).

And therefore, the individual as well as the city, should always look for the true means to

“acquire temperance and justice along with wisdom” (295, 591b); and “to be ruled by a wise

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ruler” (295, 590d); preferably found within his own soul; “otherwise, imposed on him” (295,

590d), as it is commonly done to children; which is essentially “the aim of the law, which is the

ally of everyone in the city” (295, 590d).

And even if he has to be punished, by his acts of injustice, such punishment is

advantageous, since he is being given the opportunity to “calm the bestial element and free the

gentle one” (295, 591b), and “return to his best nature” (295, 591b); therefore acquiring the

greatest good for his soul, which is being just - a virtue to look for “as long as he lives” (295,

591c).

And through moderation, the virtuous man and city should always keep such harmony in

his entire soul, by balancing his acquisition of wealth (which makes way to innumerous

unnecessary pleasures), selecting the best honors to give or accept, and doing all which is

ordered by reason, found as proper and good in the empirical world.

And through knowledge of the true transcendent forms, which are perfect, pure, and

always the same, express in the material world the ideal model of what is GOOD and JUST.

Bibliography

Plato, Republic; translated by C. D. C. Reeve; 1948