ABSTRACT

I should like now to develop Plato’s ethical doctrine further by describing another of its fundamental conceptions. The doctrine of transcendent forms was not the only answer, as it was not in itself a complete answer, to the anti-social ideas of some of the Sophists. Another line of attack which Plato developed was to raise the question of the best and healthiest condition of the soul, and to insist that this depended on the presence of order, for which he uses both the word kosmos, with which we are familiar, and taxis, a word more narrowly confined to the meaning of ‘orderly arrangement’. I want therefore to inquire what was meant by this conception of order in the soul, and how it may be said to have rebutted the sophistic arguments. It will be necessary first to discuss some preliminary matter, and in particular – as I gave warning we should find ourselves doing – to turn back for a moment to the thought of Socrates. But I mention the theme at the outset, so that it may be kept in mind as the end to which our train of thought is leading.