There Is No “Why” in the World#10
Republic
Socrates: “We speak of many beautiful things and many good things, and we define them. But we also speak of Beauty itself and Goodness itself. The former are visible to the eyes, but are not grasped by intellect, while the Forms (Eidos) are grasped by intellect, but are not visible to the eyes.
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Glaucon: “Yes.”
Socrates: “Then what is the third element required for the sight within us to see an object, and for the object to be seen? Without it, no matter how keen the eye may be and no matter how much color the object may have, nothing will be seen.”
Glaucon: “What is it?”
Socrates: “What you call light. This bond that joins sight and visibility is far more precious than the bonds belonging to the other senses. Then which of the gods in the heavens would you name as the lord of this power?”
Glaucon: “Who could answer anything other than the sun?”
Socrates: “The sun is not sight itself, but it is the cause of sight and is itself seen by sight. It is this sun that I call the child of the Good. The relation that the Good (Agathon) bears, in the intelligible realm, to intellect and to the things grasped by intellect, is exactly the same as the relation the sun bears, in the visible realm, to sight and to visible things.”
Glaucon: “Please explain a little more fully.”
Socrates: “When the eye turns toward things that are not lit by the sun, toward dim objects, its power of sight is weakened, and it appears almost blind. But when it turns toward what the sun illuminates, it sees clearly. The soul is the same. When the soul is fixed upon that which is lit by truth and reality, it understands and possesses intellect. But when it remains in the realm of becoming and perishing, the realm of change, it possesses only opinion (Doxa). Therefore, let us call the source that gives truth to what is known and gives the knower the power of knowing the Form of the Good. It is the cause of knowledge and truth, yet it is something far more beautiful than knowledge and truth.”
Glaucon: “Something more beautiful than knowledge and truth? That is extraordinary.”
Socrates: “Just as the sun gives visible things not only their visibility but also generation, growth, and nourishment, so the things that are known derive from the Good not only their knowability but also their reality (Ousia) and existence. But the Good itself is not being. It stands beyond being, surpassing it greatly in dignity and power.”
Glaucon: “By Apollo, that is truly a divine transcendence.”
Socrates: “Now let us suppose that there are two rulers governing these two realms. One rules the intelligible realm (Noetos), and the other the visible realm (Horatos). Come then, draw a line and divide it unequally in two. Then divide each of those parts again in the same proportion, representing the visible realm and the intelligible realm.”
Socrates: “The first part of the visible realm consists of shadows and reflections in mirrors. The second part consists of the animals around us, plants, and all the artifacts made by human beings. The relation between these two parts is the relation between image and original, and here opinion (Doxa) is formed.”
Glaucon: “I agree.”
Socrates: “Now consider how the intelligible realm is to be divided. In its first part, the soul takes the things we previously saw as originals and now uses them as images in its inquiry. Here it proceeds from hypotheses (Hypothesis) and moves downward, not to a first principle but to a conclusion. Think of those who practice geometry or arithmetic. They posit odd and even, figures, and the three kinds of angles as hypotheses, and they regard them as so obvious that no further account is needed. Starting from these hypotheses, they arrive at the conclusions they seek.”
Glaucon: “I understand that well.”
Socrates: “Although they draw visible figures and speak about them, what they are really thinking of is not those figures themselves, but the Forms that those figures resemble. They seek to behold the square itself, the diagonal itself. But because their thought cannot rise beyond the hypotheses to the first principle, they remain in the intelligible realm without fully grasping it, and so they abide in discursive reasoning (Dianoia).”
Glaucon: “I understand.”
Socrates: “Finally, consider the second part of the intelligible realm. Here the soul, through the power of dialectic, uses hypotheses not as first principles but literally as stepping-stones or springboards (Hormai). It rises by means of them to that which is the first principle of all, the unhypothetical (Anypothetos), and then, depending on that first principle, descends step by step to the conclusion. In this process, the soul borrows nothing from the sensible world, but proceeds only from Forms, through Forms, and ends in Forms.”
Glaucon: “I think I understand what you mean. You are trying to show that the realm grasped through dialectical discussion is a clearer reality than the realm dealt with by technical disciplines such as geometry. Those who engage in the latter do indeed use intellect in relation to their objects, but because they cannot move upward beyond their hypotheses and instead move downward from them, their souls remain not in true understanding (Noesis), but in discursive reasoning (Dianoia). Is that what you mean?”
Socrates: “You have grasped it exactly. Now let us assign to these four parts the four corresponding states of the soul. At the highest level is understanding (Noesis), second is discursive reasoning (Dianoia), third is belief (Pistis), and last is imagination (Eikasia). These are arranged in order according to the degree in which they participate in truth, and their clarity is arranged in the same way.”