It’s been a while since I’ve read Plato’s Republic, but isn’t the Myth of Er just a abstraction of the way people make decision based on (perceived) justice and injustice in their everyday life? Just in the same way that Socrates says it is easier to read large print than small print, so he scales up justice from an individual to the titular Kallipolis, so too the day to day determinism of choices motivated by what we consider is ‘fair’ or ‘just’ is easier seen if multiplied over endless cycles of lives, than days and nights.
Is it possible that Plato was saying that day to day we experience this homeostatic mechanism? (if you are rational enough to observe the patterns of how your choices affect your personal circumstances?).
An example from the Republic itself: if I remember correctly the entire dialogue starts because Socrates is in effect kidnapped after the end of a festival because his interlocutors find him so darn entertaining. This would appear to be unjust—but not unexpected because he is Socrates which he has this reputation for being engaging and wise even if it is not the ‘right’ or ‘just’ way to treat him. How then should he behave in future, knowing that this is the potential cost of his social behavior? And the Myth of Er says that Odysseus kept to himself, sought neither virtue nor tyranny. That’s probably the wrong reading. It’s been a while since I’ve read it.
It’s been a while since I’ve read Plato’s Republic, but isn’t the Myth of Er just a abstraction of the way people make decision based on (perceived) justice and injustice in their everyday life? Just in the same way that Socrates says it is easier to read large print than small print, so he scales up justice from an individual to the titular Kallipolis, so too the day to day determinism of choices motivated by what we consider is ‘fair’ or ‘just’ is easier seen if multiplied over endless cycles of lives, than days and nights.
Is it possible that Plato was saying that day to day we experience this homeostatic mechanism? (if you are rational enough to observe the patterns of how your choices affect your personal circumstances?).
An example from the Republic itself: if I remember correctly the entire dialogue starts because Socrates is in effect kidnapped after the end of a festival because his interlocutors find him so darn entertaining. This would appear to be unjust—but not unexpected because he is Socrates which he has this reputation for being engaging and wise even if it is not the ‘right’ or ‘just’ way to treat him. How then should he behave in future, knowing that this is the potential cost of his social behavior? And the Myth of Er says that Odysseus kept to himself, sought neither virtue nor tyranny. That’s probably the wrong reading. It’s been a while since I’ve read it.