B 1200 Name:

Plato, Republic, BookVI (pp. 157- 185) "The Good"

1) What is the story that Socrates tells to explain why philosophers are misunderstood?

2) Explain the analogy of taming the beast which Socrates uses to show what he thinks of the wisdom of the sophists.

3) Why are potential philosophers corrupted?

4) What is Socrates' answer to the charge that actual philosophers are vicious?

5) What is Socrates' comment regarding opinions held without understanding?

6) Socrates is not willing to say what he thinks the good is. But he does compare it to the sun, "an offspring of the good and most like it." Explain his analogy.

7) Socrates uses a line divided into unequal sections to illustrate his thoughts about the visible and the intelligible. Draw the line, labeling the segments Socrates refers to. (This is NOT the diagram in the footnote on p 183.) Explain the relationship between the parts.

8) What role does geometry play in Socrates' scheme of the visible and the intelligible?

I have read pp 157-185.

I have not read pp 157-185.

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