Background

Hopefully you remember that Plato not only believes that abstract ideas like the ideal man and the perfect circle exist, but also that the real word counterparts of man and circles are imperfect manifestations of those forms.

All Forms are Linked

Our next goal is to understand Plato's claim that "Good is the highest form". So let us start trying to understand where this idea comes from. For Plato, all forms are linked together. Consider the form for Justice; Plato believes that Justice exists as an absolute eternal concept in the world of forms that we can grasp through reasoning. Justice as a form is separate from the form of an ideal man.

However, the ideal man has to be just. Hence, the form of man borrows from the form of justice. Hence, these forms are linked. There is a form for beauty and would be used in the form for anything beautiful. There is a form for bravery, courage, honesty, resilience. These feed into the forms of specific things such as the form of bravery would go into the form of a dog and so on.

Meaning, the form of man is composed of the form of justice and some other things. Where does the form of justice come from? Is the form of justice linked to the form of beauty as well? If yes, how?

The Form of the Good

When we are comparing these forms, all of these forms have degrees of sameness and difference. The form of a chair and the form of a table have sameness in the sense that they have to be sturdy and be useful. The form of a man has sameness with the form of justice, with the form of beauty, with the form of courage, with the form of loyalty because the perfect man should be just, beautiful, courageous, loyal, and so on.

Instead of assuming that every sameness and difference between these different forms is some arbitrary connection, Plato asks us to visualize something like this. All knowledge has a source. There is a highest form, which permeates downwards and creates forms like the forms of justice, beauty, courage, and in turn, these forms combine to create the form of a man, dog, and chair.

Plato does not describe this tiered structure. This is my abstraction to help with understanding. However, it is not okay to limit the Form of Good to one purpose. It is best to think that it serves two purposes.

The first purpose is that the Form of Good is the source of these forms; hence, we see patterns and sameness between these forms. Both the form of Justice and the form of Beauty serve the same higher form of Good and are not independent entities.

The second purpose of the form of Good is that it allows individuals to understand these forms of Justice etc. I am not exactly sure what Plato’s thought process here was. What Plato did say was that the form of Good is like a sun. It illuminates all other forms for the rational mind, it lights them up so that you can understand these forms.

I have understood it like the following. We need reason to understand what the form is for something. We need reason to decipher, decode, or unveil what is the form of courage. Our reason works with pattern recognition and logic. If there was no pattern, if there was no logic to the way these forms are arranged, how would we be able to understand the connection between these forms of Justice, Courage, Beauty, and Man and so on? The only thing that makes sense is that something has to connect these things. As a rationalist, you can then grab hold to any form, and follow the thread of logic and be able to retrace the path to any other form. Metaphorically, the Form of the Good is the illuminating sun of the world of forms, but in exact terms, it makes it possible for an individual to use reason to correlate these forms.

To summarize, Plato had the conception of a form that is higher than the other forms. He called it the Form of the Good. This Good should be conceived of as the order and structure of the universe. Through this order and structure, all other forms are created which play some role in the ascribed order of the universe. The form of Justice ensures there is order in the universe. The form of beauty ensures the universe is pleasing to look at. The form of man ensures that men behave in a way such that the universe remains a 'good' place to live in, a world of beauty, order, and justice.

The Hidden Teleology

Teleology is the perspective of seeing purpose in everything, and seeing purpose as the primary component of existence. The word 'purpose' could be replaced with the word 'order'. Plato saw order in the universe, which all things happen for a reason. His beliefs about teleology are not as well described or strict like his successor Aristotle, but we can safely assume that Plato believed in some higher order in the universe.

This bias led him to create the concept of the Form of the Good because if there is order, it has to come from somewhere. By linking these forms, this order permeates through everything.

Plato's Ethics

Plato liked order, and for most of the part agreed with the physical world. He was not a revolutionary thinking that there was a need for a massive upheaval of the social system. Instead, he saw order in the Greek life; he saw things in terms of their existing purpose in Greek society. He saw that soldiers serve a specific purpose; he saw that merchants and traders serve another purpose, he saw artisans and their purpose, he saw the ruling class as serving another purpose, and lastly he saw slaves as serving a purpose in society.

You can assume from this setup what Plato's thoughts on Ethics were. Let me help you guess it. Plato thought that there is order in the universe from the Form of the Good. All other smaller forms exist to ensure or perpetuate that order. He sees that the manifestations of those forms, like the soldier, the ruler, the merchant, and the slave are trying to serve their purpose in the society.

So what should change? Not much. Plato's ethics revolves around this idea, "identify your purpose, and do it well". Plato believed that all these manifestations, the soldier, the ruler, the slave, the merchants, all of these have forms behind them. These forms dictate how a soldier should behave, how a ruler should rule, and how a slave should obey. Plato calls upon people to use reason to figure out what their purpose in Greek society and life is, and then perform that function in the best manner.

Plato's Justice

The concept I have mentioned is Plato's conception of Justice. The idea that Justice is doing what you are supposed to do as prescribed in your form. If what you did was according to your form, it was just, and if it was not according to your form, it was unjust. So it is just for a ruler to rule fairly and unjust for a ruler to be corrupt. It is just for a soldier to fight bravely in the field of battle and it is unjust for a soldier to flee. It is just for merchants to be fair in their trades and unjust for them to exploit resources and customers.

By extension, it is just for a master to whip a disobedient slave and unjust for a slave to resist punishment or run away.

In some sense, Plato did not shake the tree too much. All he said was everything has a purpose and order hidden behind the veil of reason and the people of Greek society only have to adjust their behavior slightly to be their ideal self, serving their proper function and role in society.

The Republic

The Republic is the name of a Plato's dialogue. It introduces the Form of the Good; it also looks like to establish a polity based on these forms. In his ideal city-state based on the forms, Plato proposed a Tripartite Class System meaning there are three types of citizens.

Rulers, Auxiliaries, and Producers. Rulers represent Reason. Auxiliaries represent Spirit. Producers represent Appetite.

Plato claims the following; only a limited number of people truly understand reality. These are people who can appreciate a beautiful flower while also understanding the concept of beauty; people with knowledge about the material world as well as the understanding of the underlying forms.

These people are the philosophers and should form the highest echelon of citizenship given the purpose of ruling over the city. The Rulers are also called Guardians and Philosopher-Kings because they should have the authoritarian powers of a king and the reason of a philosopher.

After the rulers, there are people who are able to appreciate the beautiful flower as well as appreciate the order that the ruling class brings. These people have spirit which gives them courage, loyalty, and discipline. They are motivated by honor and duty and align themselves with the wisdom of the ruling class. These are called the warrior class, the enforcers of the ruling class, or auxiliaries.

Lastly come producers, these are the third and lowest tier of citizenship. Their appetite drives these people. These are the artisans, merchants, traders, blacksmiths, and so on. These people engage in the practical and do not contemplate about the underlying forms.

Plato thinks that each soul is composed of three different things, reason, spirit, and appetite. Every soul has one part dominant. People born with dominant reason deserve to be rulers because they will be the best at ruling. People born with dominant spirit need to be soldiers because that is what they do best. Lastly, appetite dominant people are relegated to the lowest tier of citizenship because they will be best at the practical pursuits such as artisanship spending hours and years honing their craft.

Where Do Slaves Belong?

The Rulers, Auxiliaries, and the Producers refer to citizenship tiers. Slaves are not part of this hierarchy, they are not a part of the Producers class, and they are not part of the citizenry. However, slaves still have souls, it is not clear what sort of souls they have, and we can assume that they are also appetite dominant.

One other interpretation is that there will not be slaves in the ideal republic but that is not clear. Plato did not specifically argue for or against slavery specifically. In the practical reality, he did acknowledge that slaves serve a purpose according to their form, but maybe if we are generous, we can say there is a chance Plato thought slaves would not be needed in a perfect city.

However, the more realistic option is this; slavery was an inherent part of society. Plato was not a revolutionary in his ethics and politics. As such, it is expected that Plato thought of slaves as below citizenry and not even worth clarifying how their souls are different from the Producer class.

Conclusion

I hope that all this has informed you about Plato's ethical ideas. It all starts with the prevailing idea of order and purpose in all matters of human life. Everything serves that larger order. As long as you are following that order, which only philosophers can figure out through reason, you are being just.

However, this is not enough to appreciate Plato fully. The next lecture is going to cover many of miscellaneous ideas that Plato had to support his ideas about justice and his ideal republic.