3-13 OG-16
Ok, if we are going to discuss (goodness) and justice , what makes an individual good , or a society just or viruous , then we need to start with the ancient Greeks. So ,we will star with plato . Plato's philosophy , now some of you may have studied palto's philosophy in some other course , so this might be easy , ok at risk of boring you ,let me give you just an over view plato's philosophy theory . Plato says the soul has , (and) by soul , he simply means that which (animates) the body , gives a life , anyway ,he says the soul has there sperate parts , called ,(faculties) , which we'll come back to , he believes that goodness and individual was to be found when the there parts of the soul work together . When they (weren't) in conflict but exist in (harmony) ,a good or just person , will have a soul in which the three faculties work well together .So how does he arrive that analysis , well ,he starts out his very famous work <the republic> , he starts out by saying it's very difficult to get a (grasp of what) theindividual soul looks like, so to get some idea ,what the individual human soul looks like he says we should sutudy the structure of the society ,what kinds of people and activities a erery society has (to have) .He argues that every society has to have three groups of people , workers,soldiers and leaders , and each has a defining characteristic . Every society has to have workers, like farmers or people who work on factories , producing all the things we need for every day life , and accroding to plato , the key feature of workers , is they are focus on their ( own) desires or appetites , interested in satisfying their needs of body , so workers are associated with desire . Ok, if you live in a society that has a good (amount ) of wealth , good agriculture ,good industry , other society are probably trying to take it , so you need a class of soliders , who are supposed to pretect the state from (external threats) , well the soliders , well ,they are going to be in a dangerous situation quit frequently , so ,you need people with a , a lot of high (spirit) , an emotional type of individual emotion is what chacterizes this group , and then plota says , the third group you need is leaders , their main (role) will be to think (rationally) , to use their ration and intellect to make descion . As descion makers , leader determines what state is to do , how the affairs of the citizens are to be run , plate then asks himself , ok ,as soon we have gots such a society with these three groups , when the society be a good , a just society , well you can only have a good society , when these three parts are working together , each doing its propriate thing , and plato can only believe these can only happen if workers and soliders learn (moderation) , or self control, but why , why do workers and soliders have to learn self-control , well how can a society (flourish) if the workers and soliders don't control their desires and emotions, plato thinks that if they are not (under) control , workers will sleep too much , and play too much , so they are not going to get their jobs done , and soilders need to channal their high (spiritedness) in a certain direction , (pecisely) by being courageous , but you're not going to get there ( automatically) , you need to teach them this kind of moderation , so you need an eduction system that first of all ,will train the leaders , so they will make good descions , so they will (know) what's wise , then make leaders responable , turn over to them the education of the other two groups , and through education , build the society that the workers , and soliders learn to use the intellect to control their desires and emotions , if you had all of that , for plato ,you (would) have a good or just society , now take that picture , that social political picture , and apply to the individual person , you remember about the soul ? That consists of three separate parts or faculties , can you guess what they are ?Desires ,emotions , intellect , the characteristics associate with the three groups society , and can you guess how plato defint a good or just person ? Well , it is parallel how we characterize a good or just society , the three parts have to be in harmony , (In each of us ), are desires and emotions ,often get the better of us and lead us to do foolish things , they are in conflict with the intellect , so to get them to all work together , to co-exist in harmony , every people need to be shaped in the same way that we shape society , through the education system , individuals must be educated to use their intellect , to control their emotion and desires.That's harmony in the soul.