Summary:

This chapter gets into greater detail on the education of the guardians such as what activites and studies will bring desired qualities in them. What subjects will arouse their curiosity and taste for the truth? The physical and cultural education mentioned earlier is not enough.

Math is identified as crucial for war and a field that stimulates intellect. The most important things for stimulating intellectual curiosity is not when things are clear but actually when they are contradictory. If a thing is found to simultaneously hold two opposing qualities, then it encourages you to further think about what these qualities really are and improve your understanding.

The discussion yield five subjects that the prospective guardians must study: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music and dialectic. The first two subjects are beneficial as anything pertaining with math leads one to ponder timeless truths. We cannot make true circle in reality, but we can think about perfectly round ones. Music is specifically of the intellectual kind where you think about ratios and harmony, not the kind where you depend on your ears to solely. Dialectic is the most important subject as it teaches one systematically understand things and not take things for granted. However it will be the last subject that the students take on as it can lead to them questioning their moral codes and engaging in sport to tear down arguments for entertainement. Dialectic is critical for understanding goodness and separating good from bad. Reiteration of the necessary unity of physical and mental education. Students must excell at both and not focus on one. Physical education can be forced upon a person and be beneficial, but mental education will not have the same effect if not done willingly.

The levels of understanding like the divided line returns. In order of reliability there is knowledge, thought, confidence and conjecture.

Confidence and conjecture can be likened respectively to seeing objects themselves and seeing shadows and reflections of them. In common parlance and other dialogues the term "experts in fields of knowledge" has been used, i.e experts in medicine and so on. But this is incorrect as only philosophers can possess knowledge through dialectic. But belief is not the correct attribution, Socrates decides to call it "thought" as it is more reliable and closer to the truth than belief, but not knowledge. Knowledge and thought constitute intellect and "is concerned with real being". Confidence and conjecture form belief and "is concerned with becoming".

The chapter ends with speculation on how the community could be practically realized. If genuine philosophers could seize power and expel all the adults they could start from a blank slate with the children. Not very probable to occur.

Education programme of the guardians (after finishing the cultural and physical education earlier at around 17):

2-3 years of physical exercise solely. Mental studies while young.

At 20 years of age the brightest must systematize the subjects they learned while young.

At 30 years a further selection is made for those that will start studying dialect.

Then 5 years of dialectic follows.

15 years of practical experience, then if they have not been lacking and lived up to the demands, they enter the guardians truly and will alternate between administration and philosophy.

Observations:

Being and Becoming; The concept of being represents what is and does not change, including the forms and our knowledge of them. The realm of the forms is the realm of being. static, unchanging. Originates in Parmenides. The concept of becoming represents what constantly changes. The visible world that we perceive through our senses shifts and changes. Originates in Heraclitus. From other discussions I have learned that being and becoming are assigned respectively to Parmenides and Heraclitus, in opposition to each other. Im a bit irritated that the translators notes and introduction did not tell me, but ChatGPT tells me that the metaphysics of Plato can be seen as a reconcillation and synthesis of these two worldviews. The changing becoming of Heraclitus occupies the visible world of belief while the static being of Parmenides occupies the intellegible world of forms and knowledge I will need to revisit Parmenides, Zeno and Heraclitus after Republic.