Essay On The Noble Lie

The concept of the noble lie begins with Plato in the Republic, where in search of an ideal state he told of a ‘magnificent myth’. The society that Plato imagined was separated into a three-tiered class structure divided between; the rulers, the auxiliaries, and the labor or working class. The rulers, he said, would be selected from the military elite (called Guardians).The rulers would be those guardians that showed the most promise, natural skill, and had proven that they cared only about the community’s best interests. The auxiliaries were the guardians in training, and were subject to years of methodical preparation for rule. The lower class would be comprised of the workers and tradesmen, who according to Plato were the most governed by their appetites,and thus were best fit for labor. The introduction of the ‘noble lie’ comes near the end of book three where Plato writes "we want one single, grand lie.... which will be believed by everyone including the rulers, ideally, but failing that the rest of the city". Other translations for ‘grand lie’ include a ‘noble lie’, an ‘opportu...