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7.12: Establishing Justice

  • Page ID
    94555
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    See 540d-541b. “Everyone in the city who is over ten years old they will send into the country. They will take over the children, and far removed from current habits, which their parents possess, they will bring them up in their own ways and laws, which are the ones we described before.” This, Socrates and Glaucon agree, would be “the quickest and easiest way” to establish the sort of city they have been discussing; and with this last burst of speculation, they judge that enough has been said about the just city and the just soul. Book VIII will begin where Book IV left off, with an exploration of unjust cities and unjust souls.

    • In expressing his opinion that sending away the parents and raising the children in isolation is how a just city “would come into existence, if it ever did,” is Glaucon saying, in effect, that such a city, while theoretically possible, is practically impossible?

    • What is the difference between being practically impossible and being actually impossible?

    • Consider an example of something that once was, but has ceased to be, practically impossible. What changed?


    This page titled 7.12: Establishing Justice is shared under a CC BY license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Douglas Drabkin.

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