Virtues

4 Pages 1097 Words

Plato’s Four Virtues Virtues contribute to people’s actions in today’s society. Society as a whole has a common set of virtues that many people agree on. In today’s society, these are known as laws. Virtues also mold the individual outlook on life, and give them the moral’s to do what is right. In The Republic, Plato divides a society into three classes: gold, silver, as well as bronze and iron souls. Each class is designated to posses a specific virtue. He believes that wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice combine together to form The Republic. However, Plato’s four virtues individually do not necessarily produce a utopian society. A combination of the four in each citizen along with other personal emotions is necessary in producing the ideal society. In Plato’s search for the perfect “republic”, he decides that the basis of the society will be on four virtues. The first of these virtues is wisdom. Of the three classes, the gold souls posses the virtue of wisdom. The gold souls are the only class whose knowledge goes beyond the mere facts to the level of true wisdom. “…This class, which seems to be by nature the smallest, belongs a share of the knowledge that alone among all the other kinds of knowledge is to be called wisdom” (429a). The second virtue that Plato defines is courage or spirit. Courage is the preservation of the opinion produced by law, through education about what things are terrible, and what things are good. Courage can be found in the silver souls, or the guardians. Plato uses the example that when dyers want to dye wool, they start with the background. They need the right kind of white material, and they have to prepare it carefully; and if they go to this trouble, you can’t bleach the color out. If they do a poor job of it, the cloth quickly becomes washed-out and faded. Plato used the dyeing analogy to state how he wishes to train the silver souls. He states that the people will under...