Plato’s Ideal State and Politics

Plato’s Ideal State and Politics
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Plato’s Ideal State and Politics
Plato’s ‘The Republic’ is a flawless concept of an ideal state through the character Socrates. The vision brought about in the book portrays a supposed Utopia subjectively; however, turning out to be a practical dystopian society. Many propositions by Plato can be related to the current day society. This paper will focus on the flaws of Plato’s Republic, as seen in the justice system portrayed through Socrates dialogue.
The contemporary world regards Plato as the father of ‘Utopian’ ideologies. In his works, ‘The Republic’, Plato analyzes views on justice, the ideal citizen, and society among others in his quest to make Athens the ideal city. He goes ahead to break down the human soul into three; desire, rational, and spiritual. The philosopher goes ahead to state that the three parts are key features to the development of a perfect society. Plato’s views are what have shaped most government laws today.
However much Plato disagreed with his student Aristotle in ideologies, they both agreed that democracy corrupts and violates the just society. The idea of justice is to answer who is the most deserving. The analogy that needs supersede wants supports Plato's thinking. Who deserves the best flute? The person with money or one with the skill to play? A rich person does not have anything to do with the flute but the skilled player does. In the same line of thought, the best ruler should be the philosopher king as he is well versed in politics.
The pillars of Plato’s ideal city are the four virtues: wisdom, justice, moderation, and courage. His justice mechanism dictates that perfect harmony is achieved only if the citizens fulfill what is expected of them. Plato believed that the Kings and other guardians ought to show their ability to reason, which would result in a healthy place. In the Republic, Socrates describes his two ideal cities. One, the simple city is described briefly, and then gets rejected by Glaucon. Glaucon refers to this city as a ‘city of pigs’ in as much as Socrates calls it ‘the healthy city’ (369b-372e).
The perfect city has no antagonisms, no wars, and even no social strata. The other ideal city named a ‘fevered city’ by Socrates, is characterized as a beautiful city or ‘Kallipolis’ which later gets purified off its luxuries. This city is made up of three classes; the ones that guard the city and its laws entailing the rulers and auxiliary guards, also a third class encompassing those that produce what the city requires. Glaucon goes ahead and suggests that a third city might be found, through creating a distinction between the city whose rulers are philosophers and the one whose rulers are not. For a society to be complete there has to be roles given to its members. There is the role of the authority, as humans are social beings and will require a select able group to maintain order. The people selected to lead must be given a comprehensive constitution that will guide for the good of harmony.
Utopia is associated with the first city Socrates describes in the d...