The aim of this long essay is to explain why the philosopher-ruler of
Plato's Republic descends “with regret” or having
been “compelled” from his contemplation of the Forms to rule
the state. It offers a new, optimistic interpretation of his goal in so
descending, namely to try to make everyone into a philosopher. After a
brief introductory section, I turn to the argument of the
Republic to show both that the philosopher's understanding of the
Good causes him to try to maximize the amount of good in the cosmos, and
that, since every rational person is capable, in virtue of his rational
soul, of becoming a philosopher, this amounts to adopting the
aforementioned goal. In the third section, I argue that the source of his
regret cannot be that he sacrifices his own happiness in descending. Here
the vehicle is a consideration of the “Plotinian” reading of
the Republic, whose conclusion is that once he has achieved
knowledge of the Forms, the philosopher can neither increase his happiness
by further study, nor lose his happiness. Hence, if he is true to his
goal, he has to try to improve the lot of others. In the next section, I
argue that the Timaeus' account of the Demiurge's construction of the
cosmos helps us to understand both the nature of the ruler's attempts to
make everyone a philosopher and why he also understands that he will
inevitably fail. Here the key idea is to link the Timaeus'
account of Necessity or the Wandering Cause with the circumstances facing
the philosopher in ruling the state. In the conclusion, I sketch how this
account of the philosopher's reason for descending suggests that the best
or ideal city in the Republic is not the tripartite
kallipolis, but is rather a version of the City of Pigs.