Length: This paper should be between one and two single-spaced pages, using 11-12 point font and with standard margins, or between two and three pages if double-spaced. At the top of the first page, include your name, recitation number, TAs name, and FirstPaper (single-spaced).Format and scope: This is not meant to be a research paper, so secondary work on Plato should not be discussed.Your answer should rely upon the text of the Republic only (along with your analysis, of course). Please cite quotations or excerpts using the line numbering method that I have been using in lecture (e.g. [404a] to refer to an excerpt coming at or after the start of that line but finishing before the start of 404b use [404a-b] if it goes beyond). If using a translation other than the Desmond Lee version ordered for the course, please indicate the source at the end of the paper. Your job is to make a convincing case by using the text, and evaluation of papers will be partly based on your selection of appropriate sections from the text, along with your interpretations of those sections. Most of the words in your paper should be your own, then, but some should be drawn from Platos text: as arough guideline, I would suggest between 10-20 percent could be excerpts (more than that and there would be too little of your analysis), with the rest being your setup and discussion of those excerpts in answering the question.The question: To what extent does justice (for Plato) depend upon the state propagation of falsehoods? Insofar as deception is necessary to maintain justice, can Platos distinction between benign or beneficial lies and improper or dangerous ones be sustained?Overall, does Plato successfully justify deception as necessary for justice?Suggestions for the topic: Be sure to say how Platos just city employs falsehoods, including those discussed in class (e.g. myths about the gods, founding myths, those surrounding births, etc.), but also whether in your analysis the city depends on these (i.e. whether justice would be more difficult or impossible without them). This will, of course, require some speculation on your part, but you might think about the utility that they provide, and whether it would be lost if people were simply told the truth. Be sure also to respond to the second part of the question, which asks for a distinction between presumably justifiable falsehoods and those which cannot be justified. How can we tell these apart, and what are the differences between them?Since Plato claims that the falsehoods he uses are of the benign or beneficial kind,do they match the distinction that he also makes between different kinds of falsehoods?Finally, and on the basis of your answers to the above, you should take a position on whether or not in your view Plato has made the case that lies and deception are essential for rulers to maintain order over subjects. In addition to saying whether or not you think he has, you should offer reasons why (or why not), as well as to briefly say what this entails for how we regard the use of such lies in politics today(are they necessary, making society more just, or do they constitute or contribute to injustice?)
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