PLATO’S REPUBLIC

Plato is a well known Philosopher in Greece who believes that the greatness of the
teacher is best shown by the caliber of his students. He is the student of Socrates and
the founder of the first college, The Academy in Athens. Plato being an idealist
concerned himself with significant questions on defining justice, the right kind of life, the
state and its purpose. His famous book was entitled “The Republic”.

In Plato’s Republic, Plato describes the kind of state that he believed would lead to a
perfect society. He refers to it as an “ideal state” and concludes that this is the only
truly natural form of polis. Plato then explained what characteristics an ideal city
would have.

 An ideal state is a state that comes into existence because no individual is self-
sufficing.
 An ideal state, exists when each person does only what he is naturally suited for
in order to guarantee the best quality work (Republic, 370c).
 The object of the ideal state is for the city as a whole to be as happy as nature
allows, which is accomplished through specialization (Republic, 421c).
 An ideal state centered on strict specialization based on natural talent is
completely good (Republic, 427e). –This only means that people should have
each own task for our society to become as efficient/ easier as possible and rely
to one another for the means of completing one’s task.

Once the city is completely good, he reasons it must contain the four virtues of
wisdom, moderation, courage, and justice (Republic, 427e). Wisdom in the ideal city
is located in the ruling class, which are true guardians who possess a form of
knowledge called wisdom (Republic, 428e). Courage is located in the guardian class,
and is defined as the preservation of the belief of what things are to be feared as
defined by law and education (Republic, 429d). Moderation is found in all of the
residents of the ideal state and is defined as the agreement between the classes that
the ruling class will rule. Justice is the virtue that holds the city together, makes possible
the existence of the other previously defined virtues, and is defined as everyone in the
city doing what they are naturally suited for, and not meddling in the work of others
(Republic, 433). Producing justice he then reasons is to establish the classes in a
natural relation of control to one another (Republic, 445D). Therefore, we can define
justice as facilitating nature and obviously existing in conjunction with nature. This
means that a state can only be natural if it is just, as defined by Plato, a condition not
present in any existing state. Hence, we reach the conclusion that no state is natural
except Plato’s ideal state. (https://m.grin.com/document/298377- A Comparison of
Plato’s and Aristotle’s Conceptions of State).

My point of view:

-Plato is an idealist and his work is about an ideal state, its forms and how it exists. He
definitely wants a perfect society that can be achieved through specialization. It is like
doing the task you are naturally good at. In this way more people can rely to one
another and perfectly satisfy one’s needs. The state exists because people are self-
sufficient on the first place. He mentioned also about the four virtues (wisdom, courage,
moderation, justice) needed that will serve as a foundation and criteria on choosing who
will lead the state and how. One is for certain; Plato strongly believes that A philosopher
should rule the state because of the following truths:

There is a motivational claim that If those who are to govern are "lovers of ruling"
(Rep. VII.521b4-5), they will not seek the good of the whole city, but will pursue
political office simply for their own benefit, and will thus engender civic strife.
Only philosophers have a life that they prefer so strongly to the political life
that they "look down on" that life (Rep. VII.521b1-2, 520e- 521b). Thus only
philosophers, Plato thinks, will seek the good of the whole city when they
rule.

Second, the question of who should rule notoriously leads

to bitter, intractable, and destabilizing conflicts between social and economic 3
elites and the masses. Rule by philosophers, Plato at least sometimes
suggests, can forestall such controversy. All citizens can be brought to
accept that the rule of philosophers is in their own interest (Rep. VI.499d-
501e).

Philosophers alone have knowledge (epistêmê) of what really is, e.g., just,
good, and fine and this makes them better at ruling.

In his book also, he mentioned his belief that in order to achieve an ideal state then
family should be abolished and there shall be no private property at all. He definitely
wants to transcend human selfishness. For him an ideal state is a perfect society where
people don’t argue. The key to his goal is definitely social unity.

In conclusion, Plato's ideal state is constructed from the deeper non-realistic

perspective while Aristotle comes to his conclusions regarding politics and states
through observation of existing states and forms of government. Plato is forced to reject
claims made by Aristotle stating that all states are natural and all citizens are capable of
participating in politics. Plato rejects these claims in order to preserve the fundamental
basis on which his ideal state is constructed such as the concept of specialization and
the closely connected definitions of justice and nature. (.
(https://m.grin.com/document/298377- A Comparison of Plato’s and Aristotle’s
Conceptions of State).