Dialogue on The Republic, Session 3: The Guardians, The Virtues, and The Soul

Our examination of The Republic continued on October 31, 2021 as members of the Toronto Philosophy and Calgary Philosophy Meetup groups discussed parts of Books III and IV. In the passages from 412(b)-445(e), Socrates, Adeimantus, and Glaucon consider the features of the guardians and auxiliaries who will protect the city from external enemies and internal divisions. Next, they proceed to look for the four virtues first in the city and then in the individual soul. We began with Socrates’ definition of health at 445(d)-(e) as a state of self-regulation or balance in nature, a theme that is applied to the ruling class, the city’s virtues, and the soul’s unity. Is the guardian class necessitated by nature or is it unnatural? Is the imposition of a creation myth, sometimes now called the “noble lie”, that the guardians are born of the earth and contain metals, an illusion and is this an appropriate system to maintain in a healthy city? References were made to the allegory of the cave that featured in our first session on The Republic: are the guardians like the prisoner staring at images thinking them to be reality without knowing the source? If as Socrates suggests the city is a metaphor for the soul, in which justice consists of a community of three parts, how can one know harmony from disorder when there are many differing perspectives across the world? These and more fascinating questions and ideas were exchanged during our discussion that will lead, in our next episode, to consideration of the character of the philosopher ruler.