プラトン『国家』における<気概>の概念

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The aim of this paper is to clarify the nature of the spirited part of the soul (thumos, to thumoeides) and the significance of its education m Plato's Republic I take up three distinctive interpretations (1) Penner's interpretation under this heading, I include the same kinds of interpretation as Penner's (that is, Cornford, Hardie, Robinson), but take up his as representative According to him, although this third part of the soul is not psychologically well-founded in Plato's argument, Plato knowingly introduces it, in order to draw the analogy between city and soul I ciiticize this interpretation because Plato's argument in fact, apart from the analogy, depends upon the fact of psychological conflict (together with the principles of the opposition), exemplified in two cases Leontius' selfdisgust and Odysseus' anger (2) 'The "ideal self-image" interpretation' under this heading, I include various sorts of interpretation which characterize the spirited part in terms of both reference to the self and the conception of the good (Annas, Cooper, Irwin, Joseph, Kamtekar, Reeve) I think this interpretation is convincing, on the ground that the concept of the "ideal self-image" has a poweiful and consistent explanatory force for phenomena which Plato attributes to the spirited part, such as anger, love of honor, love of victory, shame, envy, obstinacy, and the like Anger, for example, is provoked against a background of some "ideal self-image" So is shame Indeed, this interpretation may not explain fully Plato's observation that even small children and animals are full of spirit (441a7-b3), since they presumably have no self-conception But in any way, this observation can be and should be read in relation to its education or training Otherwise, we could be led in the wrong direction like Craig (3) Craig's interpretation Craig gives a peculiar interpretation According to him, the spirited part is divided into two parts within itself "a lower half, more akin to that found in animals, it is an instinctively selfish part" and "a higher, more distinctively humane half, that takes pleasure from order and beauty and power and harmony as such, irrespective of their further bearing upon one's own immediate welfare" "Only this latter, more educable half of the spirit is by nature a reliable ally of reason" (104) I criticize this interpretation because, according to it, the effect of the earlier education of the soul will be actually reduced by half That undermines not only Plato's educational program, but also his whole program of establishing the ideal city and thereby exhortation to justice Craig's stumbling stone, it seems, is Plato's observation about small children's spirit and that of animals However, it should be noticed that Plato's examples or symbols used for the spirit are limited to that kind of animals which are both full of spirit and trainable or tamable (horses, dogs, lions, snakes) Even the animals Plato picks up can be allies to human reason Investigation into Plato's theory of earlier education in books II, III, which is directed mainly at the nature (phusis) of spirit, shows that the initially rude nature common to some animals is later civilized through proper education into full-fledged spirit Moreover, I suggest that earlier education focuses on the formation of shame (aidos, aischune)in children's soul Children take in within their soul some good character like Gods or heroes as ideal self-images, and form a sense of shame (esp cf 388d, 396ce) Thus, the self relevant to the spirited part is not so much biological or instinctive as social or cultural In short, the "ideal self-image" interpretation is the most cogent one in terms of both the characteristics given to the spirited part and Plato's theory of earlier education
日本西洋古典学会の論文
2005-03-08

プラトン『国家』における<気概>の概念

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