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208 BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
aggressiveness." and finds an answer to this question in the educational
programme of Books 2 and 3. where the training of the thumos in the
individual finds its counterpart in the training of the Guardians in the
state. Education. that is. mousike. coupled with the proper physical
training. should aim at fashioning a well-tempered thumos. since without
such training. the thumos cannot possibly be reason's ally. There is
thus the distinct possibility that an uneducated thumos may attempt to
dominate utterly the psuche as a whole. Hobbs neatly phrases this very
real danger as follows: "In other words. the thumos of humans is not
born uneducable. though it may become so" (26). The belief that the
human thumos is congenitally educable is one of the cornerstones of
Hobbs's reading of Platonic ethical psychology. since it thus allows for
the possibility of imitating socially approved role models. Although
Books 2 and 3 of the Republic are sharply critical of such role models.
Hobbs suggests a more nuanced reading of their function within the
Platonic educational programme. In short. she (30-31) concludes that.
the essence of the human thumos is the need to believe that one counts
for something. and that central to this need will be a tendency to form
an ideal image of oneself in accordance with one's conception of the
fine and the noble .... The thumos will thus lead to a tendency to take
some hero as a role model. to be emulated either generally or in detail:
if one wishes for social recognition then it makes sense to conform to
those models which already receive it.
This question of what. if any. are appropriate role models to be imitated
is the main topic of Chapter 2. "Thumos. andreia and the ethics of
flourishing." Hobbs's interest in role models within the Platonic corpus
stems from her 1991 Cambridge Ph.D. thesis. Homeric Role Models and
the Platonic Psychology. Hobbs believes that Plato is correct in giving
role models a central place in his ethics. arguing that they appeal to the
non-rational elements. and so are especially useful in the early training
of the thumos. and further. that such emulation serves to give a life
shape and structure. Hobbs even more boldly suggests that role models
are still useful even after reason has reached maturity. since simultaneous
training of reason and the emotions is not necessarily incompatible.
and further. that such models also can appeal to the intellect. But there
is a catch in emulating society's heroes. as Hobbs astutely notes: since
the thumos arguably has a tendency to em ate well-established cultural
heroes. how can it be freed from such a self-replicating system? Hobbs
sees this as a ticklish challenge to Plato's larger project of social engineering.
A secondary question connected with the use of such role models
is that of their gender. This problem becomes especially acute. according
to Hobbs. when it concerns the virtue of andreia: is it to be
understood as the genderless "courage," or as the gendered "manli-