The Problematic Character of the City-Soul Analogy in Plato’s Republic: Integrating Ethical and Political Arguments and Approving Priority of the Philosophical Life

Abstract

The city-soul analogy in Plato’s Republic has long attracted the scholarly interest for its alleged defects arguably undermine Plato’s argument for justice. However, previous scholars tended to exclude the possibility that Plato purposefully contrived the problematic character of the analogy. This paper attempts to demonstrate that Plato used the problematic character of the analogy with an intention to integrate ethical and political arguments for justice and to ultimately prioritize the philosophical life. First, the paper tries to restore the original and simplistic view of the analogy because the contemporary scholarly debates around the analogy tend to be bolstered by the overstatements of the analogy. Then, it turns to the ethical problem of Platonic justice that the just individuals, who are strictly defined through the analogy, may not pass the ordinary standard of justice. The paper argues that the ethical problem of Platonic justice would be resolved only when the political arguments for justice proves successful, since the strictly defined just individual meets the ordinary standard of the justice only in the condition that logopolis exists to guarantee the agreement of psychological justice with vulgar justice. The necessity of realizing logopolis brings about the most sensitive political issue, the emergence of philosopher-kings. Finally, the paper argues that Plato solves the practicability problem of the emergence of philosopher-kings by approving the priority of the philosophical life specifically in the discussion of the analogy of the inferior and by implying the gradual improvement of existing regime. In the course of advancing these interpretation, the paper proves that the analogy guides us first to the controversial ethical issue of justice, second to the prominent political issue of Plato, the emergence of philosopher-kings, and finally to the profound philosophical issue of Plato, namely, superiority of the philosophical life. It is through the problematic character of the analogy that Plato’s arguments for justice integrate successfully ethical, political and philosophical dimensions