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(intro music)

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Hi! I'm Chris Surprenant, and I teach in


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the department of philosophy at
the University of New Orleans.

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This video is part of my series
on human well-being

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and the good life, and it examines the
account of well-being presented by Plato's

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character Socrates in
the Platonic dialogues.

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If you've taken an introduction
to philosophy class,

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it's very likely that you have
read Plato's Apology.

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This dialogue provides Plato's version
of a speech given by Socrates

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to defend himself against the charges of
corrupting the youth and impiety, charges

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that Socrates ultimately was convicted
of and sentenced to death.

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This dialogue contains one have the most
frequently cited lines in the entire

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history of Western thought.

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When speaking to the jury to
explain why he can't simply stop

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what he is doing, why he can't stop
annoying people by constantly

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questioning them about what they believe
and why, Socrates says that he can't stop

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examining his own life because the
unexamined life is not worth living.

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That statement provides tremendous
insight into Socrates's understanding

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as to what it means to live a good life.

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What Socrates is telling us is that the

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person who merely wakes up in the morning,
goes to work, does his job, comes home,

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watches television, goes to bed,
and then repeats this process,

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day in and day out for his entire life,
never really reflecting on what he ought

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to be doing or what he values and
why, that that life is not worth living.

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But for Socrates, participating in this

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type of rational reflection about
what you value and why,

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that is, doing philosophy, is not enough
by itself in order to live a good life.

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What is also needed is that an individual
becomes a master of himself, using his

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reason to rein in his passions, as
well as doing what he can to help

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promote the stability of his community.

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And these topics are explored directly
in Plato's dialogue Republic.

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While most people think
of Republic as a political

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dialogue that focuses on the nature of
justice, it is perhaps better understood

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as a dialogue focusing on virtue and the

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role of philosophy, community,
and the state in helping to

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create the conditions that
make living well possible.

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At the beginning of book two, Glaucon,
one of Socrates's interlocutors in the

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dialogue, poses a challenge to Socrates.

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Glaucon tells the fable
of the Ring of Gyges,

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which, like the One Ring in the
Lord of the Rings, has the power

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to make its wearer invisible.

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He notes that the person who
wears the ring, through

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various types of deception, would
be able to get anything he wanted:

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power, money, or even a good reputation.

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The moral of this story
seems to be that it's not

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important to actually be just, but
rather merely to appear to be just.

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And so his challenge to Socrates is:

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"Why must an individual be
just in order to live a good life?

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Isn't it simply necessary for that
person to appear to be just?

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In the remaining eight and
a half books of Republic,

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Socrates attempts to address this challenge.

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His solution is to see justice not
just as a political condition,

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but also as a state
of a person's soul.

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Understood politically, justice requires
each person in the city to mind his own

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business, doing the particular job that

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has been allocated to him
to the best of his abilities.

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Socrates claims that operating in this
manner will allow the city to thrive,

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which is in everyone's best interest.

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When the boys object
that one implication of

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this position is that particular
individuals or classes of individuals

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will not be happy with this arrangement,
Socrates responded that he is not

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concerned with the happiness of
particular individuals or classes of

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individuals, but rather with the
happiness of the city as a whole.

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Here, we see that, for Socrates,

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a well-ordered society trumps
individual freedom.

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In addition to understanding justice
politically, Socrates also sees

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it as a state of an individual's soul.

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He compares the soul
to a two-horse chariot.

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One of these horses, which he associates
with a person's appetites or desires,

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Socrates says, is stubborn,
and must be controlled.

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The other horse, which he associates with

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spiritedness, is noble and can
be used by reason, which he

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associates with the charioteer, to
help control the stubborn horse

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But if a person doesn't learn
how reason can make use of

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spiritedness in order to rein in desire,
then that person will be just as

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misdirected as the chariot controlled
by the stubborn horse.

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When understood in this way,
it seems obvious to Socrates

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why being just, in addition to

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participating in philosophical
investigation, is necessary

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in order to live a good life.

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The just person not only does his part
in order to maintain the stability of

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the society and the community,

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but is also in control of himself
and is not ruled by his desires.

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Is Socrates' position reasonable?

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While us moderns might find it odd

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that his conception of the good
life would be tied so closely to

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what appears to be a significant
restriction of individual freedom,

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Socrates might respond that freedom
outside of a well-ordered community or

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well-ordered soul is simply lawlessness,
and lawlessness is inconsistent with any

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conception of human well-being and
what it means to live a good life.

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Anyone who might want to refute Socrates's
position at the very least would need to

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show how an emphasis on individual freedom
does not lead to this kind of lawlessness.

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And so what we see in the Socratic
dialogues is a conception of human

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well-being and the good life that
emphasizes both the importance of

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rational reflection and an individual
doing his part to contribute to the

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stability of the community as a whole.