PLATO’S BORROWING AND EXTENSION OF HOMERIC JUSTICE

Embargo until
Date
2013-10-25
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University
Abstract
One of the topics of the Republic is to determine the role of the poet within the ideal city. While the poets, including Homer, are categorically expelled from the ideal city in Book X, numerous Homeric and poetic influences, references, and illusions can be seen throughout the Republic. Starting with the first word κατέβην and ending with the Myth of Er. I determine the nature of justice in the Homeric worldview to be ‘doing that to which you are allotted’, which is the same as justice is initially presented in Book IV of the Republic. I argue further, that there is not a shift in the moral tone of the Odyssey from the Iliad, and that by investigating the actions of the two protagonists of these epics a unity between them may be drawn. Due to the numerous other poetic influences on the Republic, and that the Homeric epics can be read as containing the same notion of justice, I conclude that Plato’s presentation of justice initially in Book IV is essentially a borrowed concept from Homer. In the successive books of V-IX, Plato builds a philosophical foundation on which to show the superiority of justice to injustice. In the course of these arguments, justice itself is deepened and made into a more robust notion that was initially presented in Book IV. I argue, at the end of the Republic, the nature of justice appears to be different, while actually being a deepened, clarified, and more robust concept than its initial presentation. Advisors: Dr. Dimitrios Yatromanolakis and Dr. Richard Bett Email:yatroman@jhu.edu
Description
Keywords
Plato, Homer, Platonic justice, the Republic, Homeric justice
Citation