batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l14545-l14687
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l14545-l14687
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
passage_locator:
label: BOOK I. / BOOK II. / BOOK III. / BOOK IV.; lines 14545-14687
start: '14545'
end: '14687'
translation: The Republic
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: Socrates and his interlocutor examine justice by comparing the just city
with the individual soul. They define civic justice as each class doing its own
work, then ask whether the soul has corresponding parts. Socrates introduces a
rule that the same thing cannot undergo or perform contrary actions in the same
respect at the same time, illustrating it with examples of a person moving one
part while another rests and a spinning top with axis and circumference.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Injustice is described as the greatest degree of evil-doing to one's own city.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Justice in the city is described as the trader, auxiliary, and guardian each
doing their own business.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The speakers propose testing the account of justice in the individual after
finding it in the State.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The State is treated as a larger example that may help discern justice in
the individual.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: The passage uses an image of friction striking a light so that justice may
shine forth and be fixed in the soul.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: The just individual is said to be like the just State insofar as both are
called just.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: The individual is assumed to have the same three principles in the soul as
those found in the State.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:8
text: Socrates asks whether learning, anger, and appetite belong to distinct parts
of nature or to the whole soul in each action.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:9
text: Socrates states that the same thing cannot act or be acted upon in contrary
ways in the same part, relation, and time.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:10
text: A standing person moving hands and head is used as an example in which one
part moves while another is at rest.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:11
text: A spinning top is described as having an axis that stands still and a circumference
that goes round.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Socrates
description: Primary speaker who directs the inquiry into justice, the city, and
the soul.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Interlocutor
description: Unnamed respondent who agrees, asks questions, and urges continuation
of the inquiry.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Trader
description: One of the three city classes named in the definition of civic justice.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Auxiliary
description: One of the three city classes named in the definition of civic justice.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Guardian
description: One of the three city classes named in the definition of civic justice.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: State
description: The larger example in which justice is examined before applying the
discovery to the individual.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Individual soul
description: The individual case in which the same principles found in the State
are sought.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
roles:
- id: role:1
label: philosophical questioner
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Socrates leads the inquiry by posing questions and proposing tests for the
account of justice and the soul.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:2
label: respondent in inquiry
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The interlocutor answers, agrees, asks how the inquiry can proceed, and encourages
pursuit of the speculation.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:3
label: civic class assigned its own function
assigned_to:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
basis: Civic justice is defined as each of these classes doing its own business.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:4
label: larger analogue for inquiry
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The State is used as a larger example for discerning justice before applying
it to the individual.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- id: role:5
label: smaller analogue under examination
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The individual soul is examined for principles corresponding to those in
the State.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: light from friction
literal_form: Image of two things rubbed together striking a light in which justice
shines forth.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:2
label: spinning top axis and circumference
literal_form: A revolving top with an axis that stands still and a circumference
that goes round.
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Definition of civic justice
summary: The speakers identify civic injustice as evil-doing to one's own city and
civic justice as each class performing its own work.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Transfer of inquiry from State to individual
summary: Socrates proposes applying the account discovered in the State to the individual
and testing whether the two cases agree.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:3
label: Question of the soul's parts
summary: The speakers consider whether learning, anger, and appetite belong to distinct
principles within the soul or to the whole soul in each action.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:7
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:4
label: Rule of non-contradictory action
summary: Socrates proposes that the same thing cannot act or be acted upon in contrary
ways in the same respect at the same time, then illustrates this with a person
partly moving and a spinning top.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: quest for wisdom through analogical inquiry
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The passage stages a philosophical search for justice by moving from the
larger case of the State to the individual soul and by testing principles through
reasoned examples.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: This is a philosophical argument rather than a narrative myth; the motif
label is limited to the passage's explicit inquiry into knowledge and justice.
- id: motif:2
label: inner division of the soul
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage asks whether learning, anger, and appetite are performed by different
principles within the soul and uses contradiction tests to distinguish parts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: No supplied taxonomy family directly names tripartition of the soul; therefore
no taxonomy reference is assigned.
- id: motif:3
label: illumination of hidden truth
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The passage uses the image of friction striking light so that justice may
shine forth and be fixed in the soul.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: The image is metaphorical within philosophical speech, not a literal mythic
event.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage supports a cautious comparison with a wisdom-pattern in which
inquiry brings a hidden truth into visibility.
claim_level: same_function
target: wisdom motif family
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage itself is argumentative philosophy and does not narrate
a mythic revelation; comparison is functional and metaphorical only.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 14545-14552
quote_or_summary: Injustice is identified with the greatest evil-doing to one's
city; justice is defined as trader, auxiliary, and guardian each doing their own
business.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 14553-14570
quote_or_summary: Socrates says the account should be tested in the individual after
being found in the State, using the State as the larger example.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: quote
locator: 14566-14569
quote_or_summary: '"The friction of the two when rubbed together may possibly strike
a light in which justice will shine forth"'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 14573-14583
quote_or_summary: The speakers agree that things called by the same name are alike
in that respect, and that the just man will be like the just State in regard to
justice.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: 14584-14596
quote_or_summary: The State was just when its three classes did their own work;
the individual is assumed to have the same three principles in the soul.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 14618-14652
quote_or_summary: Socrates asks whether learning, anger, and appetite arise from
different parts of nature or whether the whole soul acts in each case.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: 14653-14661
quote_or_summary: Socrates states the rule that the same thing cannot act or be
acted upon in contrary ways in the same part, relation, and time.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: 14662-14673
quote_or_summary: A man standing while moving his hands and head is described as
partly at rest and partly in motion.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: 14674-14687
quote_or_summary: A spinning top is described as having an axis that stands still
and a circumference that goes round; if the axis inclines, it cannot be called
at rest.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: Literal argumentative content is clear. Motif and comparison fields are limited
because the passage is philosophical and mostly non-narrative.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Only the provided passage and metadata were used. Taxonomy references were assigned only where directly supportable by the passage language and supplied taxonomy list.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg__l14545-l14687
passage_sha256=fbae11a22ed6f9ab2b104c5446e0fc6a9b9aff06b3a645e1de303bd88efb36b5