Cephalus' Departure in Plato's Republic

At the beginning of the chapter, Cephalus invites Socrates to his home for philosophic discussion. Although it is the first scene, Cephalus appears only in this scene and does not reappear in the dialogue. To understand why he departs the scene so early, first we must focus on the purpose of philosophy.

Philosophers, like Socrates, question why things are, how they should be and what the best way to live is. Philosophy can be disturbing, as it was with Cephalus because it may contradict what you previously believed in. In this particular conversation with Cephalus, he asks, "What is justice?" There are many answers to this question, and Cephalus provides the simple definition that justice is telling the truth and paying one's debts.

Cephalus' principles are based on an elderly, wealthy perspective of life which focuses on what happens after death and reflects on his past life. On page 6, Cephalus expresses his concern of what is to come when he states, "when the prospect of dying is near at hand, a man begins to feel some alarm about things that never troubled him before."

This late perspective of life shows how Cephalus represents a very religiously concerned character. From this, he derives his definition of justice so that it suits himself and satisfies the gods. At this point he is very focused on what the gods think of him because he mentions the fear of, "being in debt to some god," (7).

An indication that Cephalus has a guilty conscience of his past is when he claims his soul is tormented about the fear of the punishments in another world. It appears that he has a guilty mind and is worried about the consequences of his next life. Obviously, an old, wealthy and religious man would not be concerned with matters in the present world, because most of his matters can be solved with money, but not ones in the next world.

If his conscience was free of all troubling thoughts, he would feel the " 'sweet hope'" on his way to what lies beyond, but instead he speaks of what sounds like personal experiences of waking from sleep in terror and being haunted by "dark forebodings."(6) He would not speak of these things if he has not experienced them for himself. Apparently Cephalus does not feel the charm of leading a righteous life.

Cephalus uses the term, "righteous." When someone is described as being righteous, I think of a divine or holy being; a god is an example of a righteous being.