Justice, Koinonia and Unity: Phaedo, Republic and Parmenides

Abstract

Thus far, scholarly research has paid little attention to the relationship between justice, koinonia and unity in Plato’s works. This is despite the fact that this relationship is already mentioned in Gorgias 507e6–508a3–even though the passage makes no reference to the theory of forms. In what follows, I will attempt to demonstrate how this relationship is established in the realm of forms. First, I examine the so-called intellectual biography of the philosopher in the Phaedo (95e–102a). This passage introduces community (κοινωνία) and presence (παρουσία) as alternative ways to understand how things participate in forms. However, by the end of the dialogue the exact nature of this kind of participation remains unclear (100d5–6). Nevertheless, the Phaedo’s discussion of previous views on the cause of being, generation, and destruction suggests a single teleological cause that connects and holds everything together (99c5–6). Secondly, I demonstrate that the relationship between koinonia and justice within the realm of forms is fundamental to Plato’s Republic, even though this relationship is considered just as a paradigm (500c–501e) and therefore not explicitly discussed. Thirdly, I demonstrate that the Republic’s concept of justice is employed in the Parmenides to clarify the function and structure of the forms. This model of justice enables us to favour the conception of participation as koinonia, thereby rejecting the so-called model of immanence, namely, the view that forms are present in that which participates in them. Finally, I illustrate how the model of justice, present in the third deduction of Parmenides II (157b–159b), contributes to the exploration of the koinonia between the One and the principle of plurality.