Plato's republic
In The Republic by Plato, one of the main questions that Socrates sets out to solve is to define what the ideal state is. With the help of his fellow philosophers, Socrates maintains that the creation of a perfect state is one that is created on the basis of the peoples basic needs. Not unlike the present day view of communism, Socrates' perfect state consists of a group of people who work together for the greater good of the community. In his perfect state, Socrates implements a class system where each person is designated a specific class at birth. The class system consists of three distinct classes; the producers and farmers, the auxiliaries or guardians and the rulers. From birth, each person is brought up and educated by the state to perform their specific role within society to the best of their ability. In order to maintain this class system, Socrates creates a myth, or a "noble lie" which he calls, the Myth of the Metals. In this myth, everyone is born and nurtured within the earth which acts as their mother, therefore relating everyone as brothers and sisters. The earth molds each person for a specific job and when their education is complete they are set out into the world to perform the
In order for these guardians to perform their duties as best as possible, Socrates decides that these guardians need not only be physically strong, but philosophical in character. As a result of this, the class which consists of the job of the guardian is introduced into the Republic. What Socrates has described in his construction of his ideal state is what seems to be a combination of the past and present meanings of an aristocracy (aristos, "best," and krateîn, "to rule"). Plato does not stress physical training as much as he does moral training because he feels that in order for a guardian to be practical, he must be able to oppose the appetitive part of the soul and concentrate on doing his job which is to protect the city. As it is well known, many of the stories and myths told in ancient Greece depict Hades as a terrible place filled with ghosts and gore that one goes to after death and suffers an eternity of pain and torture for sins committed in life. The final education of the rulers is described by Socrates' Allegory of the Cave, which shows the path of education of a ruler from ignorance to a complete knowledge of the good. Socrates argues that young guardians should only study stories that represent good examples of honorable behavior. In other words, these guardians will be molded by the state from birth through their education to form an elite group in which future rulers will be chosen. The role of the guardian is to wage war and protect the city from enemies, or as Polemarchus states in his theory of justice, to benefit ones friends, and harm ones enemies (Plato 332d). The entire idea of The Republic is based on the rule of the perfect state by philosopher kings because they have been "bread" to be the ones most suitable to rule from birth. The final class that Socrates discusses in The Republic is the class of rulers. After establishing the necessities that the city needs to survive, Glaucon points out that the city is lacking in luxuries and riches, describing the city as a "city of pigs" (Plato 372e). I do not think that this perfect state described in The Republic would be a fair one to live in. Indeed the society would be practical in the sense that there would be a job for everyone, and everyone would benefit from a community where the necessities of life are provided by the state.
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