Book IV
Structure of Book IV

1. Socrates explains that there are (4)
primary virtues in a city-state: wisdom,
courage, temperance and justice.

1. He first tries to find these virtues in the
city-state.

2. He then searches for these virtues in
the individual
1. The Virtues

Wisdom—controlling, knowledgeable part of
the city. It is knowledge of guardianship, good
judgment.

Courage—courage concerns preservation
and is the function of the soldiers, or
auxiliaries (429b).

temperance—concern mastery over
pleasures and is found when the desires are
controlled by knowledge: that is, when the
actions of the craftsmen are regulated by the
guardians.

Justice—since this is what Socrates is trying
to define, he has given us no clear definition.
2.Virtues in the City
Political* WisdomGuardians

The city is wise because it is ruled by
guardians who have a special kind of
knowledge (428d).

“So it is because of the smallest group or part of
itself, and the knowledge that is in it—the part that
governs and rules—that a city founded according to
nature would be wise as a whole” 428e-429a)

Political wisdom—the guardians doing their job well
(creating wise laws)
Political CourageAuxiliaries

Socrates says that courage is a sort of
“preservation of the belief, inculcated by law
through education, about what things, and what
sorts of things inspire terror” (429d).

This courage belongs to the Auxiliaries because
they enforce the laws of the guardians (who are
wise).

Political courage—the auxiliaries doing their
job.
Political TemperanceCraftsmen

Socrates says that temperance involves the
mastering of pleasures, pains and appetites by
reason.

He argues that the ideal city has temperance
because the craftsmen (“the masses”) are ruled
by wise and courageous people.

Political temperance—the masses are governed
by the wise guardians and courageous
auxiliaries.
Political Justice

Socrates explains that wisdom is associated with
the rulers, courage with the auxiliaries and
temperance with the proper governance of the
craftsmen class (432a).

Socrates says it would be difficult to decide which
of these virtues is most valuable (433c5).

He concludes that the harmony of all these virtues
together must be justice (433d10).
Cont’d

Political justice—every class doing their
own work (i.e. fulfilling their natures)
(433d).

Think of justice like a harmonious chord
with the wisdom, courage and
temperance as the notes.
THE CITY
JUSTICE
WISDOM
GUARDIANS
COURAGE
AUXILIARIES
CRAFTSMEN
TEMPERANCE
3.Virtues in the
Individual
The human soul

Socrates explains that the just person will
be like the city-state (435b).

This means that the soul must be
organized like the city (435b-c).

In order to show this, Socrates must
prove that the soul has three parts like
the city does.
Tripartite Soul

Socrates begins the argument for the
three parts of the soul at (436b5-10)

He points out a single unit cannot be still
and move at the same time.

If a unit has parts, however, it might be
able to move some of its parts while
others are still.
Tripartitie soul

Socrates takes this principle and
applies it to the soul.

He notes that a person can
desire something yet resist the
desire (437c).

Example: you really want a
piece of chocolate espresso
cheesecake but you resist that
desire because you are on a
diet.
Implications

This suggests that there is a part of the
soul that urges us to eat and drink while
another part urges us not to.

This gives us at least two parts of the
soul: the rational part and the
appetitive part.

*Appetitive=part that deals with the
appetites (like hunger and thirst)
A third part

Socrates argues that there is a third part of the
soul: the spirited or emotional part.

The spirited part of our soul deals with
emotions.

Example: say you can’t resist the cheesecake.
You eat it. Then you feel sadness and anger at
your self. This sadness and anger is from the
spirited part.
Correspondence to City-State
Rational part---Guardians
Spirited part---Auxiliaries
Appetitive part---Craftsmen
REASON
SPIRIT
(emotions)
APPETITES
virtue in the soul

Wisdom applies to the rational part which if
educated properly has knowledge of what is
advantageous for each part and the whole
(442c5).

Courage applies to the spirited part when it is
enforcing the commands of the rational part
(442c).

Temperance applies to the appetitive part
when it is governed by the rational and spirited
parts.
Summary of the Soul

There are three parts of the soul:
 1. Rational
 2. Spirited
 3. Appetitive
 Each part has a corresponding virtue. The
rational part corresponds to wisdom (442b).
The spirited part corresponds to courage
(442c) and the appetitive part corresponds to
temperance (442c,d).
 Justice in the individual is a healthy state of the soul.
(444e).
Justice in the soul

Justice in the soul means that each part is
doing its part properly.

The rational part is wise and governs.
The spirited part is courageous and
supports the rational part. The appetitive
part is submissive to reason and spirit.

This creates inner harmony (443e).
THE PERSON
WISDOM
COURAGE
REASON
JUSTICE
SPIRT
APPETITES
TEMPERANCE
Justice as Harmony

Justice in the state: each class fulfilling its
function (virtue) in harmony with the
other classes.

Justice in the soul: each part fulfilling its
function (virtue) in harmony with the
other parts.

Injustice: anything that destroys this
harmony (443e5-444a).
Looking ahead

Next week we will be reading book V.

Book V is interesting because it’s a
tangent. At the end of Book IV Socrates
says he will talk about the kinds of
political constitutions that exist.

He does not get to that task until Book
VIII (!)