1.

Pythagoras ideas about the souls immortality and eternal outcomes for the souls choices between good and evil have a strong appeal to our contemporary Judeo-Christian world. Yet some of his beliefs were downright wacky. Discuss 2 of these. Pythagoras believed in the reincarnation of the soul. As a result, his community was vegetarian, which is not odd, but they also restricted certain fruits/vegetables from their diets that were thought to contain souls. Likewise, Pythagoras' community chose to be celibate, but certain members of the community could engage in sexuality under very restrictive and defined circumstances. 2. What is the role of a technician in Platos conception of a just state? The technician learns a bit about truth, beauty, justice and returns to teach others. The technician essentially applies what she has learned to the community. Doctors, teachers, artisans are all examples of Plato's technicians 3. Discuss the allegorical difference between the first and the second prisoners escape from the cave (in terms of Truth OR education) The first prisoner goes outside to see the sun in the "Simile of the Cave." This represents his pursuit of The Good: real Truth, Beauty, Justice, Wisdom, for example. He returns to the cave to guide another prisoner away from the deceptions of the physical world, the shadows we all call reality as perceived by our sensory systems. The second prisoner gets as far as the fire, a smaller approximation of the ultimate reality, and he refuses to continue on out of the cave. Instead, the second prisoner returns to his chained peers and proceeds to apply what he has learned about the fire. The first prisoner is the Guardian, philosopher-king, while the second prisoner is a technician, as Plato believes. 4. Describe why sophistry is so important in ancient Greece. Sophistry, the practice of argument for argument's sake, attracted all Greek citizens because they served the state as members of the Council of 500. In that capacity, they argued and debated matters related to governing Athens. 5. Using the concept of the Divided Line, describe what evil is. Because "The Good" (an ultimate reality or intelligence) is at the top of the Divided Line, it represents the ultimate Truth, the ultimate and permanent Good that exists. Moving down the Divided Line vertically, represents approximations of The Good--sort of distilled--as they become more and more applied to the physical world and an organism's sensation. The further away from the top of the line, the greater the distortion is from the ultimate Reality, and the more evil things become. 6.Describe the role of the state (a government) for Plato and why his conception requires us to consider form. The role of government is to rule with true Justice, not merely individual or group ideas about justice. Plato thought that Justice was completely absolute, unchanging, inflexible and measurable. Justice in someway had to have a lasting tangible existence, and the closest we can get to understanding such things is through mathematical concepts, which are everlasting and still tangible to the intellect and to the physical world. These shared properties of knowing and touching meet in Plato's idea of "forms." 7. Why is math conceptually more important to Plato that the physical world? Math is more important to Plato than the physical world because it can be understood with the mind, without being manipulated in the physical world. At the same time, math can be made tangible and physical for applications to the physical world. The number "3," for example, is an idea that we all understand as being permanent, unchanging and verifiable. Its reality exists regardless of our manipulations and is always true. Likewise, we can see and touch things in "3s." So, in a real sense, "3" exists as a pure form and a physical reality

simultaneously. 8. Describe a dialect and why its so dangerous. The dialectic is a question: "What is ." It is the means by which someone may come to know "The Good," but when a young person is presented with the dialectic, (s)he may be easily confused and fooled into forgoing patriotic ideals for the universal application of, say, "What is justice." Socrates saw this with several students: Alcibades betrayed Athens for Sparta and had been exposed to the dialectic as a 19 year old. Likewise, two members of the Tyranny of the Thirty studied the dialectic as young men at Socrates' hand. 9 Why is factionalism so despicable to Plato? Factionalism, or self-interested small groups, will ultimately argue and direct justice, truth, wisdom that best suits their individual interests. As a result, selfinterest governs the concepts of these ultimate truths and may appear true, but is likely a corruption of the ultimate Justice, Truth, Wisdom. In other words, the ultimate Truths do not serve small groups interested in whatever pleases them. The ultimate Good is unbending and always true. 10. Describe the myth of the metals (gold, silver, bronze) and its role in Platonic eugenics. The Myth of the Metals represents Plato's concept of the role social classes play in an ideally Just society. The Gold class, or the Guardians, is made of folks who are innately rational, even tempered and interested in pure knowledge. These people are the ones suited to know The Good and become leaders of the state, Philosopher-Kings. The Silver class is a group whose passions dominate their personalities. These people are hot-headed or very spirited (like Oedipus, for example) and are best suited to serve the Guardians as warriors. The Bronze class are the artisans, laborers, technicians of the community, best suited to serve the needs of the Warriors (silver class), who by extension, serve the Guardians (gold class). Plato thought that Athens should start fresh with 10year-old citizens and younger to purify the classes.