In Book V of Plato’s Republic, he details his view of an idealistic society. His main arguments include a platonic view of marriage which is comparable to animal breeding. He also shows a strong belief in communal family. In addition, he explains why he believes that philosophers should rule.
Marriage is expressed platonically in the polis, which contrasts with the ideal of devoted monogamy in today’s society. Instead, the members in the guardian class share women along with their children, and marriage does not include living together. Plato proposes, “That all these woman are to belong in common to all the men, none are to live privately with any man” (457c-d). Plato believes that if the guardians will possess all the women and children in common, then the city will be more unified. He believes this mainly because the loyalty of
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Marriage is more similar to the way performance dogs are bred. The best guardian men and woman in their prime will bred with each other to produce offspring that are also the best (458d- 459d). To be certain that the best guardian men bred with the best guardian women, the city will have marriage festivals with an unfair lottery system (459e-460a). He proposes this so that the inferior guardians will blame luck rather than the rulers when they are not selected. The best guardian men will also be permitted to bred with as many women as they desire in order to increase the likelihood of giving birth to children that are also the best (460a-b). Plato believes that intercourse should only be done out of necessity (458d), and that it should not be permitted unless the rulers have preapproved it (459e). In conclusion, Plato believes that marriage (of guardians) is simply intercourse, it should be predetermined by the
Plato. Republic. Trans. G.M.A. Grube and C.D.C. Reeve. Plato Complete Works. Ed. John M. Cooper. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1997.
In Plato’s reasoning he explains that everyone is born with innate qualifications that make them more fit than others for a certain occupation. He suggests that in this way each person’s function will be completed thoroughly. The same theory applies when deciding how the city with be ruled. Only people who possess superior traits will have the power to rule. These people will pertain to the highest ranking class of the state called the guardian class.
As in other areas of “The Republic,” Plato carefully outlines the delineations which form the basis for the types of rulers to be installed in the state. “Rulers” (legislative and udicial), “Auxiliaries” (executive), and “Craftsmen” (productive and fficacious) are the titles of the categories and are based, not on birth or wealth, but on natural capacities and aspirations. Plato was convinced that children born into any class should still be moved up or down based on their merits regardless of their connections or heritage. He believes the citizens of the State will support and benefit from such a system and presents the idea in the form of an allegorical myth.
Thompson, James C. "Marriage in Ancient Athens." Womenintheancientworld.com. N.p., July 2010. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. .
The women were the only ones able to bear children. Also, if they were forced to stay in the house, men could have greater control over their wives, and not have to worry about them having affairs. The second important trait was virginity before marriage. Its importance to the Greek culture lies in the fear of a woman’s power. The men of the society felt it best that a woman remained a virgin until she was married; however this same attribute was not required of a man.
Their limitations amongst society can also be noticed by the amount of education that they are entitled to. Plato’s Republic mentions how the role of women is determined by the status of their spouse. For instance, if a woman were to be the wife of a guard, then she would be expected to live at the level of that status, too. She is expected to be able to contribute to society a great deal more rather than stay at home and take care of her children and household.
The underlying philosophy of the Republic was based on the community and not the individual. There are three classes in The Republic, one no more important than the other. They are the Rulers, Auxiliaries or soldiers, and the rest of the people, such as Merchants, Carpenters, and Laborers. What I especially like, is that the class one belongs to doesn't have to do with the class of your parents, but more with what your aptitudes are. This allows people to do what they are good at which usually translates into people being more productive for the community. To keep this ordered, Plato has set up the Myth of the Metals. The Myth of the Metals states that when people are created they have one of four different types of metals in them. A person who has gold in them is destined to become a Ruler, a person who has silver in them is destined to become an auxiliary, and a person who has iron or bronze in them is destined to become a farmer or another worker. It also adds though that just because one's parents are both made up of iron doesn't mean that their children will be made up of iron, they could turn out to be Rulers with gold in them. This myth is important in keeping the society organized because it gives everyone a role in society, keeps them in place in that role, and lays out the hierarchy of the society. Another way Plato has set up a more productive society, is to get every able bodied person to work, which includes woman. Woman are treated the same as men and go through the same education processes. Plato realizes that men and woman are the same except for a few different organs, so it makes perfectly good sense for them to be working also. Plato's plans for a more productive society go deeper then just getting more people to work, he wants to breed better citizens. To do this, Rulers o...
I have always thought that there was only one type of love, which was that feeling of overwhelming liking to someone else. I am aware that Lust does exist and that it is separate from Love, being that the desire for someone's body rather their mind. In Plato's Symposium, Plato speaks of many different types of love, loves that can be taken as lust as well. He writes about seven different points of view on love coming from the speakers that attend the symposium in honor of Agathon. Although all these men bring up excellent points on their definitions on love, it is a woman that makes the best definition be known. I will concentrate on the difference between the theory of Common and Heavenly love brought up by Pausanias and the important role that Diotima plays in the symposium.
The second book of the Republic shows the repressive quality of Plato’s society. Plato, talking through Socrates, wants
ABSTRACT: As Michel Foucault describes it, the homosexual paideia in classical Greece was an erotic bonding between a boy who had to learn how to become a man, and a mature man who paid court to him. In many of his dialogues, Plato plays with this scheme: he retains the erotic atmosphere, but he inverts and purifies the whole process in the name of virtue and wisdom. In the Republic, however, Socrates' pupil forsakes this model in favor of a bisexual education for the shepherds and shepherdesses of the State. Aristotle resolutely opposes this move. He thus reverts to a kind of homosexual paideia for the future citizens of his ideal state, but this choice fosters many unspoken problems.
The Republic is the most important dialogue within Plato's teaching of politics. It deals with the soul, which, as we know from the beginning, at the level where one must make choices and decide what one wants to become in this life, and it describes justice as the ultimate form of human, and the ideal one should strive for both in life and in state. Justice as understood by Plato is not merely a social virtue, having only to do with relationship between people, but virtue that makes it possible for one to build their own regime and reach happiness.
The Republic is an examination of the "Good Life"; the harmony reached by applying pure reason and justice. The ideas and arguments of Plato center on the social settings of an ideal republic - those that lead each person to the most perfect possible life for him. Socrates was Plato's early mentor in real life. As a tribute to his teacher, Plato uses Socrates in several of his works and dialogues. Socrates moderates the discussion throughout, as Plato's mouthpiece. Through Socrates' powerful and brilliant questions and explanations on a series of topics, the reader comes to understand what Plato's model society would look like. The basic plan of the Republic is to draw an analogy between the operation of society as a whole and the life of any individual human being. In this paper I will present Plato’s argument that the soul is divides into three parts. I will examine what these parts are, and I will also explain his arguments behind this conclusion. Finally, I will describe how Plato relates the three parts of the soul to a city the different social classes within that city.
It is Plato’s opining that living without nuclear families would allow the whole society to work together as one entity; in this idea the whole community is seen as a family. The overall goal of this idea is to promote unanimity and decrease opposition. He states that it is best for a society to share their experiences and use these experiences to come together. In this society, there will not be favoritism towards ones relatives and what is just will be seen as most important. Since the guardian class will have wives and children in common, then they will also have mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters in common. Plato makes this clear when he states that, “All the citizens rejoice and are pained by the same success and failures, doesn’t this sharing of pleasures and pains bind the city together.”( Republic, bk. 5, 462). The successes of others will be seen as their own, since everyone is, in a sense, related. “Our citizens, then, are devoted to a c...
He thought that the election of the people was unfair justice. Plato had some of the same beliefs. He believed that government should only have rulers who had the intelligence and education appropriate for the matter. His thoughts were that a job should be done only by those who are best suited for it. To him, aristocracy was a perfect form of government.
... state. In Plato's argument for the ideal state, the fundamental bonds which hold together his republic are unity and harmony. He explains how the just state is held together by the unity of each individual in each social class, and harmony between all three social classes. Plato explains how the ideal state must have citizens who are united in their goals. It is not the happiness of the individual but rather the happiness of the whole which keeps the just state ideal. At the same time, Plato argues that there must be harmony within the individual souls which make up the state. The lack of unity and harmony leads to despotism through anarchy which eventually arises within a democracy. Plato makes a clear argument, through The Republic, that without the unity and harmony of the individual and the state there can be no order and therefore there can be no ideal state.