The Ergon Argument and the Principle of Opposites in the Republic

• Main Authors: Wei-Shuo Lu, 呂偉碩
• Other Authors: Hsei-Yung Hsu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/62ry43

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 哲學研究所 === 105 === In the Republic, Plato points out that justice is related to a variety of issues, including politics, morality, religion, education, and society etc. In order to touch upon these aspects, by using the analogy of the city and the soul as premise, he describes the inner structures of the city and the soul which consist of three classes and three parts respectively and are similar to each other. The three classes, or three parts, can be divided by the principle of justice, and each part does its own duty without being meddlesome. Furthermore, to make the three classes in the city or the three parts in the soul harmonious without conflicts, each one should devote itself to the activity corresponding to its nature, which is the spirit of the ergon argument. The soul could present proper virtues only when the reason functions properly and the other two parts function in accordance with the rational guide and order. Before the picture of the ergon argument is fully drawn, Plato describes the first stage of the education, which gives the interlocutors an adequate ground for understanding the detail of it. As the argument proceeds, Plato points out that in addition to justice, there are three more virtues: wisdom, courage, and temperance. These virtues could be understood properly only under the premise of the city-soul analogy and the spirit of the ergon argument. When it comes to the tripartition of the soul, Plato discusses it in Book IV by virtue of the principle of opposites, namely, the opposite things only emerge from different parts. The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate that the principle of opposites is the surface of a structure taking the ergon argument as nucleus, and that the surface and the nucleus are two aspects of one and the same thing. The details of the city and the soul is demonstrated under this structure. Although the principle of opposites is a surface, the importance of it is highlighted when Plato in Book VIII and IX describes the corrupted cities and souls. Though Plato’s discussion of them in the order of their moral decline, yet the possibility of their improvements are displayed. Taking the city-soul analogy as a premise, the effect of the Ergon Argument and the Principle of Opposites is showed: The former unfolds a complete picture of the harmonious city and soul, the latter shows the way of achieving it.