柏拉图《理想国》讲义（三）
[Jurisprudence at UCL]
Seminars on Plato’s Republic by John Tasioulas
January 24, 2013
[Books V, VI, VII]
• The education of philosophy, and what is reason
The notion of reason is fragmentary.
Practical reason is the reason that is responsive to impulse.
Theoretical reason is like the mathematical truth in the knowledgeable world. The knowledge of good is objectively existing, despite abstract particularity and human contingency, such as luck.
Aristotle: what is the best life? The best life is a life of virtues, the life of God. God contemplates abstract eternal truth.
An oridinary man can start from ordinary life and progress into abstraction to acquire the knowledge of the good.
[Book VIII, IX, X]
Glaucon has posed a powerful challenge to Scorates by the idea of a hugely successful unjust person, who leaves justice behind but gains power, honor, and wealth.
Aristotle: there are external goods to a happy life. However, justice is a dominant component. you can’t be happy even if you have all the other external goods.
Kant: acting morally is to act in accordance with certain laws, which is utterly different from fulfilling your inner demands or pleasures. The notion of misery is hedonistic.
• A picture of morality disconnected between inner and outer demands
Why would the philosopher go back to the cave and rule the people who only see shadows, if for the philosopher himself, the best thing to do is to contemplate, to think about the truth of good?
Kant: it is the same with utilitarianism in terms of what a good life is. You can’t have the dichotomy between being just and being happy.
Mill: it is necessary to differentiate between high and low pleasures. The idea of happiness is not purely hedonistic.
Sidgwick: Plato and Aristotle doesn’t divorce the two distinct demands of justice and happiness.
Thomas Nagel, <The View From Nowhere>
Bernard William: what is the connection between the maximization of social utilities and my well being? What matters is not what choices you have. But what kind of person you are. It’s about human flourishing.
Kantianism and utilitarianism: they share the same hedonistic view of human happiness. Morality is one thing. personal flourishing is another.
Philosopher-King: to experience different pleasures but to prioritize reasons. The real pleasure is reason. A satisfaction to a preceding pain is only illusory pleasure. When the pain is alleviated, the pleasure disappears.
Modern philosophers are experts in public life, which is, in Aristotle's view, really problematic. Modern philosphers apply principles to maximize social utility and make specific judgment in highly textual situations, while classic philoshopers take pleasure in grasping the unchanging eternal truth in a permanently stable condition.
• Keywords of Plato's The Republic:
good
virtue
a happy life
justice
• Main criticism:
no “rights”
institutional arrangement is a nightmare
slavery
women
Seminars on Plato’s Republic by John Tasioulas
January 24, 2013
[Books V, VI, VII]
• The education of philosophy, and what is reason
The notion of reason is fragmentary.
Practical reason is the reason that is responsive to impulse.
Theoretical reason is like the mathematical truth in the knowledgeable world. The knowledge of good is objectively existing, despite abstract particularity and human contingency, such as luck.
Aristotle: what is the best life? The best life is a life of virtues, the life of God. God contemplates abstract eternal truth.
An oridinary man can start from ordinary life and progress into abstraction to acquire the knowledge of the good.
[Book VIII, IX, X]
Glaucon has posed a powerful challenge to Scorates by the idea of a hugely successful unjust person, who leaves justice behind but gains power, honor, and wealth.
Aristotle: there are external goods to a happy life. However, justice is a dominant component. you can’t be happy even if you have all the other external goods.
Kant: acting morally is to act in accordance with certain laws, which is utterly different from fulfilling your inner demands or pleasures. The notion of misery is hedonistic.
• A picture of morality disconnected between inner and outer demands
Why would the philosopher go back to the cave and rule the people who only see shadows, if for the philosopher himself, the best thing to do is to contemplate, to think about the truth of good?
Kant: it is the same with utilitarianism in terms of what a good life is. You can’t have the dichotomy between being just and being happy.
Mill: it is necessary to differentiate between high and low pleasures. The idea of happiness is not purely hedonistic.
Sidgwick: Plato and Aristotle doesn’t divorce the two distinct demands of justice and happiness.
Thomas Nagel, <The View From Nowhere>
Bernard William: what is the connection between the maximization of social utilities and my well being? What matters is not what choices you have. But what kind of person you are. It’s about human flourishing.
Kantianism and utilitarianism: they share the same hedonistic view of human happiness. Morality is one thing. personal flourishing is another.
Philosopher-King: to experience different pleasures but to prioritize reasons. The real pleasure is reason. A satisfaction to a preceding pain is only illusory pleasure. When the pain is alleviated, the pleasure disappears.
Modern philosophers are experts in public life, which is, in Aristotle's view, really problematic. Modern philosphers apply principles to maximize social utility and make specific judgment in highly textual situations, while classic philoshopers take pleasure in grasping the unchanging eternal truth in a permanently stable condition.
• Keywords of Plato's The Republic:
good
virtue
a happy life
justice
• Main criticism:
no “rights”
institutional arrangement is a nightmare
slavery
women
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