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🏺Intro to Plato

Platonic Virtues

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Why This Matters

Plato's virtues aren't just a list to memorize—they're the foundation of his entire ethical and political philosophy. When you encounter questions about the Republic, the tripartite soul, or the ideal state, you're really being tested on how these virtues interconnect and function. Understanding the virtues means understanding Plato's answer to the fundamental question: What does it mean to live a good life?

The virtues demonstrate key philosophical principles: the relationship between individual ethics and political organization, the hierarchy of the soul's parts, and the role of reason in human flourishing. Each virtue corresponds to a part of the soul and a class in the ideal city, creating Plato's famous parallel between the just individual and the just society. Don't just memorize definitions—know which part of the soul each virtue governs and how they work together to create harmony.

The Ruling Virtue: Knowledge and the Good

Plato places one virtue above all others because it alone can direct the rest. Without knowledge of what is truly good, the other virtues lack proper guidance and can even become harmful.

Wisdom (Sophia)

  • The highest intellectual virtue—represents genuine knowledge of the Forms, especially the Form of the Good
  • Belongs to the rational part of the soul (logistikon), which should rule over the other parts
  • Essential for philosopher-rulers in the ideal state, as only those with wisdom can govern justly

Virtues of the Soul's Parts

Each remaining cardinal virtue corresponds to a specific part of the soul performing its proper function. The tripartite soul—reason, spirit, and appetite—achieves harmony when each part exhibits its characteristic excellence.

Courage (Andreia)

  • The virtue of the spirited part (thymoeides)—preserves correct beliefs about what should and shouldn't be feared
  • Not mere physical bravery but the ability to maintain rational convictions despite pain, pleasure, or persuasion
  • Corresponds to the guardian class in the ideal city, who protect the state and enforce its laws

Temperance (Sophrosyne)

  • Self-control over the appetitive part (epithymetikon)—moderation in desires for food, drink, sex, and wealth
  • Unique among virtues because it involves agreement between all parts of the soul about who should rule
  • Extends throughout all classes in the ideal state, representing harmony and willing acceptance of proper order

Compare: Courage vs. Temperance—both involve controlling non-rational impulses, but courage specifically preserves beliefs against fear, while temperance moderates desires for pleasure. If asked about what distinguishes the guardian and producer classes, this distinction is key.

The Unifying Virtue

Justice holds a special place in Plato's system because it isn't tied to one soul-part but emerges from the proper relationship among all three.

Justice (Dikaiosyne)

  • Each part doing its own work (ta hautou prattein)—reason rules, spirit supports, appetite obeys
  • The structural virtue that results when wisdom, courage, and temperance are all present and properly ordered
  • Parallel structure in the ideal city: philosophers rule, guardians defend, producers provide—each class performing its function

Compare: Wisdom vs. Justice—wisdom is the virtue of one part (reason), while justice is the harmony achieved when all parts function correctly. Plato argues you cannot have true justice without wisdom guiding the whole.

The Contested Virtue

Piety occupies an ambiguous position in Plato's thought, most famously examined in the Euthyphro dialogue.

Piety (Hosiotes)

  • Reverence toward the divine—fulfilling duties to the gods and respecting the cosmic moral order
  • The Euthyphro dilemma challenges whether piety is independent of or dependent on divine will ("Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or pious because it is loved?")
  • Sometimes absorbed into justice in Plato's later work, as proper conduct toward gods becomes part of giving each their due

Compare: Piety vs. Justice—the Euthyphro suggests piety may be a part of justice (dealing with what we owe the gods), raising the question of whether it's a truly independent virtue or reducible to justice properly understood.

Quick Reference Table

ConceptBest Examples
Rational soul-part virtueWisdom (Sophia)
Spirited soul-part virtueCourage (Andreia)
Appetitive soul-part virtueTemperance (Sophrosyne)
Structural/unifying virtueJustice (Dikaiosyne)
Virtue examined in EuthyphroPiety (Hosiotes)
Virtues required for philosopher-rulersWisdom, Justice
Virtue shared by all classesTemperance
Cardinal virtues (the "big four")Wisdom, Courage, Temperance, Justice

Self-Check Questions

  1. Which two virtues both involve controlling non-rational parts of the soul, and how do they differ in what they control?

  2. Why does Plato consider justice a "structural" virtue rather than assigning it to one part of the soul?

  3. Compare and contrast how wisdom and courage function in the ideal state—which classes must possess each, and why?

  4. The Euthyphro raises a famous dilemma about piety. What is this dilemma, and what does it suggest about the relationship between piety and the other virtues?

  5. If an essay asked you to explain how individual virtue relates to political organization in Plato's thought, which virtues would you use as your primary examples, and how would you connect them to the tripartite soul?