Plato Part 4 2025 (1).pptxpowerpoint slides

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1. Plato Part 4 Summarized Notes

2. Plato’s Ethics Plato follows Socrates in maintaining that happiness is man’s ultimate goal and that the only that leads to it is virtue, for there can be no happiness without the practice of virtue Only a virtuous man can be happy For Plato as with Socrates, virtue is identical with knowledge or wisdom A virtuous man is a wise man, a man who knows what is really good for him

3. Plato’s Ethics Contd. A wicked or vicious man is a foolish man, a man who pursues what is harmful to him Such a man is suffering from ignorance, he does not really know what he is doing Ignorance is the cause of wrong doing, for no man really does evil knowingly Wisdom, according to Plato, is the virtue of the rational part(reason)

4. Plato’s Ethics Contd. Courage is the virtue of the spirited part (the higher emotions) Temperance is the subordination of the spirited part and the appetitive parts (both the higher and the lower emotions) to rule the rational part (reason) Justice in the soul is the general harmony that results from the proper functioning of each of the three parts of the soul When each part plays its role properly then a general harmony follows, and this harmony is justice in soul

5. Plato’s Ethics Contd. Thus Plato makes each of the four cardinal virtues of the Greeks the appropriate virtue of each of the three parts of the soul, with justice being the harmony that results from each part fulfilling its function properly However, he does not say that temperance is the virtue of the appetitive part (as one would expect) but virtue which corresponds to rational part. Both the higher as well as the lower emotions (the passions) should be subordinate to the rule of reason.