Influnce of Human Nature and Politics in a City

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In Plato’s republic, a philosophical account on the kallipolis (the beautiful city) is built on the perspective of Socrates and his discussion between his companions. In the republic, the city in which ones live in depends on the soul and the character of the city one lives in. In this paper the character of human nature and politics will be discussed in how a city is ought to be by the influence of human nature and politics. Firstly, the influence of human nature on politics will be looked at, for example according to Plato on behalf of Socrates; he claims that a just soul creates a just society, where it is human nature to be just, that influences in creating a just political system. Secondly, politics influences human nature, where in the republic when the discussion of guardians starts out between Socrates and the companions, there is political thought discussed between them, where Socrates wants to create the perfect guardians through specific training in all types of skills instituted to creating a perfect protector. Lastly, human nature is human soul if the soul is just the city is going to be just. It is the human nature which has created communities without any political thought put in place; it political thought that forms rules and laws. Thus, human nature is part of the individual understanding of its society that creates an understanding of how one ought to be, which in turns creates rules and laws that is essentially viewed as politics.
According to Plato, Socrates means that human nature shapes out politics. Where in Book 2, Socrates and the companions discuss how one behaves depends on his human nature, for example, Socrates discusses about how it is human nature to keep one’s body healthy. (Plato, 1992, p. 33). H...

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...ublic is the guardians the highest class. Politics influence on human nature constrains its natural upbringing for an individual. As discussed in the republic, the guardians needed to be educated and trained in a manner that fit the good of the society and anything bad was excluded. The main function of this was to raise loyal guardians that will think best for the city. Therefore, it is human nature that brings politics together, where through human nature a community is made and through that community different ideologies emerge. If there was no community, Socrates himself would have not talked about this issue creating a best city. For this reason, it is not only the human soul that creates the city but also the community’s ideologies create it.

Works Cited

Plato. (1992). Plato Republic. (G. Grube, & C. Reeve, Eds.) Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company Inc.

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