PLATO
Introduction: The Republic is an inquiry on the question of justice and why we should be just. It is an examination of the "Good Life"; the harmony reached by applying pure reason and justice. The ideas and arguments presented are centrally on the social conditions of an ideal republic - those that lead each individual to the most perfect possible life for him. Socrates who was Plato's early mentor in life answers the question in a traditional Greek society where they don't interrogate such questions. Instead they tend to trust tradition and so asking this question itself is breaking the convention. This paper seeks to explain Plato's vision of an ideal and a just city in The Republic. I find his vision of the city and construction of justice an attractive one even though there is no direct evidence that his institutions were put into practice and were successful or not. But what makes The Republic so captivating is that even after hundreds of centuries Plato continues to be one of the most widely read scholars in the western world. During his search he creates a theoretical city of the kallipolis. This city is to be the ideal, good city and for Plato, the good city is the natural city where self-selection should not exist. I wi
There is suggestion that knowledge of the bad can help to further our understanding of the good by exposing the differences. The guardians have the natural capacity to differentiate what is best for them and what is best for the society, and also they have the most potential to be corrupt. However this argument is not without fault at the same time. Even if Republic had flaws, it's important to make a distinction that Socrates makes between being able to conceptualize the city and being able to construct it. As Plato explains, "each man, practicing his own, which is one, will not become many but one; and thus, you see, the whole city will naturally grow to be one" (423d). He believes that the stories are one of the earliest influences in the formation of our character, we must use this opportunity to tell stories that help to "fashion" the minds of the young in a way that predisposes them to a life of virtue (377c). that everyone must practice one of the occupations in the city for which he is naturally best suited' (433a). Plato's vision of an ideal and just city is essentially connected to his ideas of Censorship and Formation of Character because Plato is convinced that we must do what we can "to control the story tellers. There needs to be an internal justice, within the people, and within each person, in order to bring peace to the society. There is a real sense in which his philosophy turns on the concepts of virtue, and his belief that ultimately virtue is its own reward. Why not look for justice in the city, then? He believes that we can focus more easily on the tangible elements of an ideal city than on the intangible makeup of the human soul. Censorship: Plato contends that justice in the city is thoroughly integrated when all the different classes in the society remain in their limits, take charge of the performance of their assigned tasks given by nature to them. (376E) If poetry is to be used in education, then it seems at least possible that poetry with objectionable content could be discussed as long as it was accompanied with discussions on what aspects of it were false and bad. The defining quality of the Good City is found in what it does with these natural conditions. comes into being because each of us isn't self-sufficient but is in need of much" (369b).
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