DUE FRI, 3/16 Republic Assignment

Answer the following questions – short answer (about a couple of sentences or more)

1) Who are Cephalus and Polemarchus?

They are friends of Socrates, who he decided to see before he left. Cephalus is the father, and Polemarchus is one of his sons.

2) What is the profession of Cephalus?

A Business man.

3) What was Cephalus doing right before the discussion that took place?

He was preparing/taking part in the daily sacrifice.

4) According to Cephalus, what are the virtues of old age?

You have already been down roads that the young have not yet traveled, roads of hardship, and are in turn more experienced and wise. The flip side, is that you know death is near, so many men are afraid that what they have heard in their many years about the afterlife (the horrors and the judgments) are true/false.

5) What are Cephalus’ view of justice?

He believes that justice is paying back your debts and not lying.

6) What is Socrates response?

His response is best described in his analogy, he proposes a situation where you have borrowed a weapon from a friend, but then that friend is deemed mad, at which point you shouldn't return the weapon (paying back the debt). So basically, there are situations where you have to lie or not pay back debts, all Socrates is doing is exposing a flaw in Cephalus' idea.

Write a one paragraph response to the following question

1) Do you agree with Cephalus or with Socrates? Why?

If you don't agree with either of them, write about which one you think makes the stronger arguement, even if you think it is not "right" - and why? To be honest, I don't think that Socrates' knowledge and philosophical way of thinking can out-weigh years and years of experience. I believe that Cephalus is more in the right because of him having a lot of experience with life and because all Socrates has been shown to do so far is find holes in the ideas of others, and not really put forward an idea of his own.

He spends his time going against what others think, and frankly I am not sure of where he stands on justice yet. So, by default, I am siding with Cephalus. But, don't think its just automatically chosen completely, I truly believe that not lying and paying back your debts are a part of justice, just not the whole piece. His statement is only half-way in a sense. Try to give this a shot, if you can’t answer it that’s okay: What do you think Cephalus represents? What is particular or unique about his view of justice compared to the others you have discussed in class? Well, the main thing that Cephalus represents in my mind is experience. He is the one who has seen the most, lived through and dealt with the worst, and he truly has the backing for everything he is saying. Like an elder.

He could also be one of those prisoners who has had a glimpse of the light. He is partially enlightened and is trying to spread what he understands about the higher knowledge, though it may be limited compared to what Socrates has seen and understood. The main part of his idea of justice that is unique is that it completely coincides with what "justice" is defined as "doing the right thing".