2nd, The Greek conception of the state.
Roughly speaking, mental life is composed of two parts; the unconscious, or
instinctive, and the conscious. In the early development of the child,
mental adjustment is purely instinctive or unconscious. As the child grows
older, the unconscious life becomes gradually subordinated to the
conventional and cultural requirements. The influence of education,
religion, morality and environment begin to exert their influence upon the
child and the conscious life commences gradually to assert itself. The
characteristic difference between a very young child and the conventional
adult, lies in the fact that the former's behavior is not controlled by
conventionalities or tenets, whereas the latter conforms with all the rules
and customs of society.
The Greeks entertained a very high idea of the function of the state. It was
invested with a high moral value and pedagogic aim. In fact, Plato's
republic demonstrates this very well. An important point must be emphasized,
that the state exercised a potent influence upon the development of the
conscious life of the individual.
Now we can understand the Socratic Conception of Virtue in relation to the
conscious and unconscious life. What Socrates maintained was that true
virtue must depend upon knowledge; hence knowledge is the strongest power of
man and cannot be controlled by passion. In short, knowledge is the root of
moral action, and, on the other hand, lack of knowledge is the cause of
vice. In other words, no man can voluntarily pursue evil, and to prefer evil
to good would be foreign to human nature. Hence, in the Socratic sense, in
the unconscious lies the root of antisocial deeds, and, as Forbes puts it:
"Socratic view of sin, in fact, keeps it in a region subliminal to
knowledge. The sinner is never more really than an instinctive man, an
undeveloped, irrational creature; strictly speaking, not a man at all."[24.]
Since Socrates identified virtue with knowledge, and made knowledge a
conscious factor in mental life, it is evident that education, environment,
religion and conventionality are the determining factors in the cultivation
of the conscious. "What may be called institutional virtue," writes Snyder,
"is for Socrates the fundamental and all-inclusive Virtue, the ground of the
other Virtues. He believes in the State, obeys the Laws, performs his
duties as a citizen. This does not hinder him from seeing defects in the
existent state and its Laws, and trying to remedy them. Indeed, his whole
scheme of training in Virtue is to produce a man who can make good Laws, and
so establish a good State. 'What is Piety?' he asks, not a blind worship of
the gods, but worship of them according to their laws and customs, which one
must know. That is, one must know the law of the thing, the time of mere
instinctive action and obedience is past." [25.] And Zeller expresses
himself in a similar manner: "Of the importance of the state and the
obligations towards the same, a very high notion indeed is entertained by
Socrates:--He who would live amongst men, he said, must live in a state, be
a ruler or be ruled. He requires, therefore, the most unconditional
obedience to the laws, to such an extent that the conception of justice is
reduced to that of obedience to law, but he desires every competent man to
take part in the administration of the state, the well-being of all
individuals depending on the well-being of the community. These principles
were really carried into practice by him throughout his life. With devoted
self-sacrifice his duties as a citizen were fulfilled, even death being
endured in order that he might not violate the laws. Even his philanthropic
labors were regarded as the fulfillment of a duty to the state; and in
Xenophon's Memorabilia we see him using every opportunity of impressing able
people for political services, of deterring the incompetent, of awakening
officials to their sense of their duties, and of giving them help in the
administration of their offices. He himself expresses the political
character of these efforts most tellingly, by including all virtues under
the conception of the ruling art."[26.]
To recapitulate briefly; the Socratic conception of the unconscious conforms
in many respects with our present knowledge of it, especially insofar as our
psychoanalytic experience shows us conclusively what a potent factor is
exercised by the unconscious in the determination of psychotic and neurotic
phenomena. Indeed in the Socratic sense such manifestations are anti-social
and cannot be identified with virtue, hence they are not conscious. One may
say that Socrates unconsciously conceived the modern idea of the dynamics of
the unconscious.