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Essay 14 - 81 On the Three Arguments Showing that the Just Life is Happier than the Unjust

from On the Republic of Plato: Essays 7–15

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2022

Dirk Baltzly
Affiliation:
University of Tasmania
John F. Finamore
Affiliation:
University of Iowa
Graeme Miles
Affiliation:
University of Tasmania
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Summary

There are three arguments in the ninth book of the Republic showing the happiness (eudaimonia) of the most just life and the wretchedness of the unjust. The first is made by analogy of ways of life with constitutions, the second from the means of judging, by which [types of individual] are judged more or less than one another,8 the third on the basis of the perfection in their activities, whether it is unmixed in any way with the opposite, or whether it is mixed. Since for some people the goal (telos) is pleasure, but for others it is intelligence (phronêsis), if it should be shown that the just man is superior in each individually and in both together, he would with good reason win the prize for victory, even if [his goodness] should escape the notice of both gods and human beings. This then was the challenge lying before Socrates.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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