Socrates’ “Philosophic Nature”

Written for my Year 2 Political Philosophy module.

How does a philosophic nature escape from the city’s corrupting influence to a philosophical life?

A philosophic nature is one who values the desire for the truth above all other desires that would normally lead to corruption. Socrates shows that corruption by the city is largely the outcome of the inability to see something more important beyond what is in a person’s immediate field of vision. It results from a superior desire for emotional reassurance through immediate positive feedback from one’s environment; and leads to submission under the intense emotional force of proclamations made by the majority and an unwillingness to subject oneself to the risk of rejection by that group. This is why there is no attempt at rational inquiry that would eventually allow them to see the invalidity of an unphilosophical life. This essay focuses on Book VI of The Republic to show that Socrates’ philosophic nature is a truth-seeker who is willing to toil for the truth, even without an end reward in sight, which is how they inevitably escape from the city’s corrupting influence to a philosophical life (486c).

Socrates repeatedly notes the qualities of a philosophic nature as “good at remembering, quick to learn, high-minded, graceful, and a friend and relative of truth, justice, courage, and moderation” (487a). I think these characteristics can be divided into two groups, the former half, intellectual, and the latter half, moral. The former set of qualities, if defined by their rarity, would be more important; but the latter set are equally necessary. As a result of all of these qualities, a philosophic nature is a lover of truth, which drives them to seek for and understand the truth in all matters. Socrates emphasizes the strength of this erotic love of the truth by noting that the pursuit of the truth provides them with a sort of pleasure of the soul that extinguishes the desire for pleasures of the body. I believe this is because the former provides a sort of pleasure that is perpetual rather than intermittent, since it is self-fulfilling (485e). The pleasure of the soul they derive from the pursuit of the truth means that they are able to endure the journey, despite its lengthiness and the pain of great effort (486c).

I think that intelligence is what gives one the capability to pursue the truth, but humility (which makes one willing to be proved wrong) is what gives them the willingness to pursue the truth. This character, balanced by both the intellectual and moral qualities of the philosophic nature, creates a person who is intelligent, but not wedded to their intelligence, and makes room for a genuine love of the truth (486e). However, there is an emphasis on the rarity of the philosophic nature because most people only possess portions of the necessary qualities, rather than all of them (503c). Socrates thus posits that most people gravitate towards their own representations of each thing–ironically, coloured by the specific positive qualities they do possess–and are unable to entertain the reality of each thing itself, much less is it possible for them to become a lover of truth (494a). Although rare, Socrates concedes that people with all the qualities do exist because the qualities are not mutually exclusive, and actually allow for cross-pollination (486e). 

Socrates does delve into the ways the best people are prevented from embarking on the crucial truth-seeking journey that leads to escape. An example of the corruption of an incomplete philosophic nature is that those with high intelligence are often carried by their quick wits to lead an unstable life, littered with spontaneous pursuits (503d). They have easy access to immediate gains and reputation, which makes the perpetual chase for these momentary pleasures particularly alluring. If seduced by this way of life, they are left without desire, energy, or time to contemplate the bigger picture and develop a stable progression of thought and beliefs that can culminate in understanding the truth of all matters. Their beliefs are perpetually changed as a result of the most recent representation of each thing that they are surrounded by; but they are completely oblivious to this fact because they are so caught up with securing their next dose of validation. 

The mere recognition of his intellectual qualities will result in many who attempt to influence the child so that they can use the child’s intelligence in favor of their own aims. Those who will be most aggressive in this attempt will be the sophists, since they feel so strongly affirmed by the majority. They feel sanctioned to “object very loudly and excessively to some of the things that are said or done and approve others in the same way” (492c). This intense environment created, firstly, conditions the child to concur with what the crowd ascribes value to. Secondly, the ease of succeeding by the standards of beauty, success, and character set by the majority makes it appear rather irrational to subject themselves to the pain of rejection that would result from not following in footsteps of the crowd (494d; 492e; 497b; 491e). 

After the discussion on how a philosophic nature comes into being, I believe that Socrates’ answer to the question posed is that they don’t ‘come into being’. A point that Socrates marks most important is that the philosophic nature “must… strive for every kind of truth from childhood on,” which means this nature must exist since the beginning of their life (485d). No amount of time, circumstances or influences develop a philosophic nature. The philosophic nature is no more of a philosophic nature after they discover truths about the world than before they do so. But it is only after they discover these truths that their philosophic nature, which they’ve always internally understood, is externally exposed. In fact, the philosophic nature must be willing to be slandered, rendered useless to the city, and identified as precisely the opposite of what he is during his journey to discover the truth (500d; 487d). It is only over time that one proves their philosophic nature to the outside world. Thus, the correlation between the length of time lived and the external recognition of a person's philosophic nature only creates an illusion that a philosophic nature is developed. 

Furthermore, escaping to a philosophical life means more than just a philosophical education at a young age, since Socrates notes, as more important, the ability to apply and retain philosophy into adulthood during household management and money-making, despite being in an environment unconducive to philosophy (498a). The most challenging part is when a person leaves the education system and is left to their own devices. Socrates mentions that “with a few exceptions, by the time they reach old age, their eagerness for philosophy is quenched… which is never rekindled”, which appears to be a concession of the limitations of the education system’s influence in developing philosophic natures (498a-b). The ability to stay true to a philosophical life regardless of environment requires an amount of strength only present in a true philosophic nature, which is sustained by their erotic love of the truth. 

An important aspect of their escape is that they “must hold on to their resolve through labors, fears, and all other adversities. Anyone who [is] incapable of doing so [is] to be rejected” as having a philosophic nature (503e). This shows that it is their own responsibility to escape the corruption of the city, rather than the responsibility of the city to shield them from corrupting influences. A philosophic nature takes up this responsibility by being comfortable with making their own decisions–hence, living their own way of life. They will have the courage to do what they think is right, despite acknowledging that they could turn out to be wrong. Their humility to accept when they are wrong is what makes it an inevitability that a philosophic nature will, over time, find and lead the optimal way of life (501e).

Socrates’ philosophic nature begins his self-instruction journey by believing that there are absolute truths in the world; but is unwilling to accept anything as such until he are certain it is worthy of it. To clarify what justice, moderation, courage, and wisdom really are, they seek out different perspectives that can provide them with the ultimate understanding of these matters. This leads him to take a longer road where he watches demonstrations and learns through experience in the form of interactions and surroundings. He seeks out unlikely circumstances that allow him to see things no one else born into his condition would ever see. Socrates believes that a person with a philosophic nature will be observant at all times, seeking out what is most true, and then comparing it to past and future cases, continuing to refine their understanding until they’ve identified a feature that never stops being true. They test conventions about what is fine or just or good and discard the ones that are only sometimes representative, and thus are unreliable barometers for reality (479d). This means that the sort of learning a philosophic nature is driven towards is the kind that is reliable for future use because its value does not fluctuate with changing environments (486b). 

The autonomous nature of their discovery of the truth, and subsequent escape, is important because no single person, interaction or environment is the deciding factor; rather, it is the culmination of all the experiences they’ve sought out that allows them to see patterns, and thus, see absolute truths. This road is one that would also define justice, moderation, courage, and wisdom straightforwardly to anyone else who took it; but few would think it rational to do so (504b). 

I think Socrates shows, by his own willingness to sacrifice his life for the truth, that he does not see death as not a terrible thing if the alternative is a life without truth (486b). This means that the philosophic nature only views the meaning of human life through the lens of truth-seeking, so is willing to take more risks in pursuit of it. Thus, when they are alive, they live with vigor, as they are drawn towards all that they do not understand. This means that they are unwilling to overlook any area of their life that is unsolved, and do not want to sacrifice any kind of learning in favor of another. Their seriousness about life is what gives their life meaning because they hate falsehood, refuse to accept it, and need to be without it (485b-c). A philosophic nature understands that conventional scales only judge the type of knowledge that is simply a representation of knowledge, not the type that always retains its value. They place the need to be thought of as knowledgeable below the need to actually be knowledgeable since so few know what is really knowledge anyway (489b). 

Each life choice a philosophic nature makes is deduced from reasoning that there is no other choice. However, when one cannot understand the reasons for a choice, they call it a risk, and thus, the majority’s inability to tap into this level of rationality is what leads them to call such choices the epitome of risk-taking. The philosophic nature’s path looks like a journey towards an uncertain goal, unworthy of the efforts; thus, the philosophic nature embarks on a journey full of external resistance, but also full of internal certainty, the latter outweighing the former. And just when the majority believes the philosophic nature has squandered their potential-filled life to a series of unnecessary risks–just as they begin to deem the philosophic nature useless–is precisely when the philosophic nature is on the precipice of reaching his goal. 

The philosophic nature’s desire to be worthy of any praise designated to them means that they embark on a pursuit to discover their true value, seeing how they fare in the variety of hardships others endure (503e-504a). I believe an example of a test for a philosophic nature is if in seeing “the madness of the majority” in the city by being among them, and he realises the low level of mental sanity and high level of emotional irrationality of those designated, by the city, with the highest levels of honors. Upon this realisation, he decides that he is unwilling to act in such a way that tarnishes the pleasures of the soul he has long enjoyed, and discards his previous ambitions for the conventional honors (496d). Furthermore, he is saddened by the realization that there is no one whose character or understanding is great enough to help him to pursue true justice in the city (496d). However, his experiences also give him certainty that it is possible to pursue justice in the city himself if he takes the longer road, matches his knowledge of the truths with a wide range of material knowledge, and not attempt the pursuit prematurely (474b-c). 

Moreover, the philosophic nature’s willingness to place truth-seeking above all other priorities, which means that they will elect to endure the brutality of their experience in relation to their city, regardless of how difficult it is to bear (488a). Even if the philosophic nature is educated against the sentiments of the crowd due to the strong force of his own reasoning, this alone will not make his journey easy. Even though he understands why he must follow this path, at this point, many others will be invested in his life as well, and see their own stake in the honors he attains. This means that these people will have a great incentive to shackle him against his escape to a philosophical life to ensure their own continued benefit (494e). However, this does not stop the philosophic nature because his gravitation toward the truth forces him to recognise that the approval of these types of people around him is not of the things that can always be, and thus, discarding any desire for it. This is what allows him to think independently regardless of how poor the health of the city is, which leads him to escape from being corrupted. 

Socrates explicitly mentions the inevitability of escape by noting that there is “salvation for someone who is by nature a philosopher, to insure that he’ll practice philosophy correctly in the end” (494b). He justifies this claim through the philosophic nature’s full dedication to and guaranteed success in their pursuit of the truth because they possess, by nature, thought that is measured and graceful, which easily leads them to bear the fruit for their efforts (496d). The philosophic nature is then able to create an environment where philosophy is self-perpetuating, where he imitates those who are divine and ordered and they, in turn, imitate him (500c-d). He gains a sense of satisfaction that he can access at all times, because his knowledge can be consistently applied. This means that he does not have the need to create emotional comfort with envy, hatred or competition that the majority uses to satisfy themselves (500c). And because he truly understands, and is not just taught what is vice and virtue by others, he becomes devoid of any reason to compromise his virtues or commit any vices. This lack of effort needed means that being reliable and just is a task not requiring further contemplation or difficulty, and thus possible to sustain (486b). This state of sustained philosophy marks the point of true escape from the corrupting influence of the city. This escape is indefinite because the philosophic nature verifies that the pleasure he experiences from philosophy is above all other pleasures. He knows that it has the power to sustain him perpetually, through the bad times and the good times, and that philosophy is the ultimate feature of life that can always be (496b).  

In conclusion, I believe that the self-instruction resulting from their pursuit of the truth means that Socrates’ definition of a true philosophic nature necessitates an inevitable escape from the city’s corrupting influence to a philosophical life. And thus, the more pressing issue may not be how they escape, but rather, the difficulty of correct identification. I think a crucial outcome of Socrates’ discussion is proving that there is no ascertainable test the city can conduct to proactively seek out a philosophic nature. The only way to identify a true philosophic nature is precisely through their escape, over time, from the city’s corrupting influence to a philosophical life despite not having exceptional circumstances such as no one to corrupt him or being held back by physical illness. On the road to the truth, a true philosophic nature will forcibly seek out corrupting influences anyway–but only for the sake of invalidating those ways of life once and for all.