Aristocracy in Plato's The Republic and to Build a Democratic State

Philosophers have pondered what makes for an ideal state since antiquity. In fact, the ideas theorized by the ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle over two millennia ago on this subject still resonate strongly today, influencing modern political thought and regime construction. Plato contends the ideal state is one ruled by a class of guardians, or “philosopher-kings”. These philosopher-kings are selected to rule because they are best fit for the responsibility. Aristotle, a pupil of Plato, acknowledges and agrees with Plato on the point that states ruled by philosopher-kings would be ideal states, but adds such states are simply not reasonable. Instead, Aristotle advocates for rule by “polity”: a constitutional government

In this essay, I will try to point out reasons why I think Plato wants the state to be ruled by philosophers and why I think he is right. In his time, Plato was disappointed by the way his teacher Socrates

            On the contrary, Plato's idea of the ruler is almost exactly the opposite that of Machiavelli's.  Plato's reason for his ideal ruler and state was to explain the meaning of justice. One must examine what it means for a state to be just and what it means for a person to be just to truly understand the meaning of justice.  According to Socrates, ??if we first tried to observe justice in some larger thing that possessed it, this would make it easier to observe in a single individual. We agreed that this larger thing is a city?(Plato 96).?  Plato?s ideal ruler must have a good mind, always be truthful, have knowledge and discipline, and not be afraid of death.  The ruler is a philosopher that satisfies the four virtues of wisdom, courage, moderation/self-control, and justice.

In the Republic, Plato presents his ideas through the voice of Socrates. Socrates is talking to a group of men, in which they debate the concepts of an afterlife and justice. To show justice, Socrates proposes Kallipolis, the perfect city, because it is easier to find justice in a larger place than in an individual. In actuality, Socrates created two cities in the Republic. The first city is relatively small with no luxuries. However, Glaucon, one of the men Socrates is talking to, objects to this city and calls it a city fit for pigs (Plato 372d4-5). Socrates proposes a

According to Plato, political rule’s purpose is to enforce a certain version of justice. Plato’s version of justice is neither Polemarchus’ idea of doing good to friends and harm to enemies, nor is it Telemarchus’ idea that justice is the advantage of the stronger (Plato pg. 7 & 15). Justice in The Republic is adhering to your role in order to secure the good of the whole, and not just the individual. The proper expression of this view of justice results in a city that is harmonious because its individual parts are functioning correctly. In order for the individual citizens in the city to carry out their proper roles, they must be separated into three categories: gold souls, silver souls, and bronze souls. Gold souls individuals are those who are competent to rule; silver souls are guardians who protect the city and also keep watch over the

To sum up, we recognize that Plato’s ideal city is differs from our modern societies. While in today’s modern state private life separated from the governing authority, in Kallipolis there is a totalitarian regime. However, as a reader I disagree some points which were made by Plato about his ideal city, it is worth to read the Republic and imagine his just city where philosophical kings rule workers and warriors because their rational soul dominate appetitive and spiritual part of their

Democracy defies that rule by allowing variety and liberty, and because of this variety, democracy appears with a certain loveliness which produces the most diverse population. In a democratic city, since it is full of freedom “embroidered with every kind of character type, would seem to be the most beautiful” (557d, p.228). This seems to be Plato’s only seemingly positive comment on democracy. But he later comments, “And it would seem to be a pleasant constitution, which lacks rulers but not variety and which distributes a sort of equality to both equals and unequals alike” (558c, p.228). If properly executed, this constitution is seemingly splendid and agreeable. But Plato emphases that this attractiveness of diversity is only temporary: “Isn’t that a divine and pleasant life, while it lasts?” since (558a, p.228). An excess of freedom produces an excess of opinions, perspectives, and interests. These factions must be appeased, flattered, and indulged by a leader to receive support from the people. The very freedom of democracy directly leads to absolutism due to the people’s love of tolerance and eqaulity rather than love of true good.

First off, Plato’s book The Republic offered the most detailed insight into how the author believed the government should be run; in fact the majority of the book is essentially a manuscript on how to form, choose leaders for, and sustain a “perfect society”. Because The Republic is often called the “first defense of fascism”, it should be no surprise that this book

Plato thinks that the philosopher king aristocracy would be the best type of government, one needs to ask would this type of government control man’s appetite for wealth and luxuries? The kings would not themselves accrue wealth according to the republic, so where would it go, to the army, or to public education, or maybe back to the people to build better means to take care of themselves? These ideas he has are irrelevant because all the stages intertwine together in some form. They do not stray

Now the question is what values should one have to rule, what makes them qualified compared to others. Plato outlines the different aspects of government and why he believes an aristocracy would be better form of government. In book 8 Socrates starts to wrap up his depiction of a just city. He starts to break down the four unjust constitutions of the city and man. Timocracy, which is represented by the honor-driven man who resembles and rules that sort of government. There is an oligarchy, ruled by a man driven by his necessary appetites. Democracy, in which the man is controlled by unnecessary appetites. And finally there is tyranny, which the man is driven by unlawful appetites. Socrates towards the end of book 8 break down how all these

Plato was accurate in his prediction that the masses would often choose leaders based on emotional appeals, but campaigns today also appeal to rationalism and the specialized knowledge and expertise touted by candidates. Meanwhile, government today is mostly run by bureaucrats with specialized knowledge and expertise, a scenario that Plato never could have imagined because government during his time was very

Yet, this government still functions, despite not having the same structure of a constitutional monarchy. The US’s form of government gives most of its power to groups of individuals to decide for the nation what is best, and also has one central leader that looks over all functions and actions of the US. However, with the US example many of the regulations and powers given to the government are uneven. Checks and balances are the only reason for the US being as balanced as it is. Plato’s perfect city could also give counter to what a constitutional monarchy would do. In a sense many of the positions are the same, with the exception of having one ruler. Machiavelli states that people are naturally inclined to choose one certain leader to lead them (Machiavelli, 1994). Yet Plato says that a group of leaders will be more than able to take a leading role (Plato, 2011). His perfect city also has no real limitations on what his people do as long as they stay within their class system (Plato, 2011). Machiavelli might take action on this stating that keeping a people in check is what a ruler is there to do. While Plato’s rulers might be able to decide how to keep control over people, a single ruler or set of rules made be a single ruler would be better (Machiavelli,

In Book VIII, Plato presents five political constitutions that can define the city. Among the political structures, there exists a positive correlation between the city’s state of justice and

Plato is referring to "Philosopher kings". A philosopher king is the type of government where Philosophers were the ruling class. Socrates uses the design of an 'ideal" city as a representation for how to order the human soul. This city has “guards,” divided into two groups, the rulers who are the “guards”/guardians, dedicated to do what is good for the city instead of thinking just for themselves, and the soldiers who are the “auxiliaries.” Since this Ideal city has the ruling class as the guardians, this means that the philosopher-Kings would be the rulers. "The philosopher-king must be intelligent, reliable, and willing to lead a simple life"-LitCharts/SparkNotes. The qualities of a Philosopher-King are rarely found in a single individual,

After reading The Republic there are three main points that Plato had touched on. The first of these three points is that Plato is disheartened with democracy. It was due to Socrates’ untimely death during Athens’ democracy that led to his perception of the ideal state as referred to in The Republic. Plato perceived that the material greed was one of the many evils of politics; in Plato’s eyes greed was one of the worst evils of political life. Thus economic power must be separated from political power; he came to this conclusion due to an experience that filled him with a hatred for mob mentality. He concluded that a democracy must be replaced with a government ruled by the wisest and the greatest people fit for the job; the people that would be fit for the job would be called Philosopher-Kings; which I will touch on later. Plato feels that democracy is a form of political organization that is exceptionally inferior as compared to other types of political organizations such as a monarchy and aristocracy. He came to this notion because of the fact that in his eyes the average man and woman would be inclined to make improper decisions for the society based on greed. Plato viewed all forms of government as being corrupt; the key components in an ideal society are morality and justice. The forms of government that Plato thought were corrupt was timocracy, which would ultimately fall and crumble into an oligarchy which then turns into a democracy, then last but not least turns