Comparing Aristotle 's ' 8 '

The start of theater and drama in Ancient Greece took form in about 5th century b.c, with Sophocles being considered the master of tragedy. In his plays and those of the same genre, classic fables that the people of the era knew well were used to tell the stories. The tragic hero’s of these stories often strive to live honorable and righteous lives, but because of some mistake their lives would often great and noble death. The idea that serving the state was proper way to gain honor was a popular belief during this time period. This philosophy was echoed by Plato in his book, the Republic. Plato dealt with establishing the ideal state. The way to achieve the ideal state was through striving for justice. Justice, according to Plato, is doing only the tasks assigned to them by nature. This is the fundamental notion for his creation of an ideal city. It is both knowing what true justice is and where one belongs in the city that the ideal can be achieved. Justice in a city can be found in an individual as well outside the individual because it is a concept that is universal. If a ruler of a state was to maintain order and control over his people

The rulers are the most important and must be brought up with a good moral upbringing. Plato believes that it is necessary to tell the rulers falsehoods in their childhood to have them be gentile to their own people and harmful to their enemies. In order to give them a good moral upbringing Plato states that you need to read them stories about the Gods. But because the ruler can only be subjected to good moral ideas, the evil stories will be overlooked. " Aren't there two kinds of story, one true and the other false?" Socrates states," Yes. And mustn't our men be educated in both, but first in false ones?" Plato thinks that children not be confronted with anything evil until its character is already formed, making the children respect honesty and virtue." The young cant distinguish what is allegorical from what isn't, and the opinions they absorb at that age are hard to erase and apt to become unalternatable. For these reasons, then, we should take the utmost care to insure that the first stories they hear about virtue are the best ones for them to hear."

In book VIII of Plato’s Republic, Socrates begins to discuss with Glaucon the four stages of government. Socrates identifies four basic governments and speaks of them in order of what he observes to be common occurrence. He begins with Timocracy, a government driven by the brave warriors and war heros of the day. Timocracy closely resembles how a powerful army is governed. It runs like a well oiled machine by the most powerful men. The second, an oligarchy, men of power not of strength, but of goods and riches. These men lavish their wealth on their passions and care little for anything but that which they can buy with money. The third, democracy. Democracy is made up of many men desiring freedom. Those who would rather die than be chained to the rich. The fourth and final form of government Socrates discusses is tyranny. The tyrant is a government driven by one man, who with no concern for his people, rules most unlawfully. Socrates says that the tyrannical government is the most regrettable form of government, ruled by the worst kind of man. Socrates says these are the inevitable stages in which every government will downfall.

            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 by Plato, Plato constructed an ideal city where Philosophers would rule. Governed by an aristocratic form of government, it took away some of the most basic rights a normal citizen should deserve, freedom of choice, worship, and assembly were distressed. Though the idea of philosopher kings is good on paper, fundamental flaws of the human kind even described by Plato himself prevent it from being truly successful. The idea of an ideal democratic government like what our founding fathers had envisioned is the most successful and best political form which will ensure individual freedom and keep power struggle to a minimum.

The three classes are a product of different aptitude levels for certain tasks amid various individuals. Plato assigns different political roles to different members of each class. It appears that the only classes that are allowed to participate in government are the Auxiliaries and, of course, the Philosopher Rulers. The lower class does not partake in politics because they are not mentally able. In other words, they do not understand the concept of the forms. Thus, it is better to allow the Philosophers, who do have this knowledge, to lead them. Providing food and abode for the Guardians are the only governmental responsibility the lower class has. The Auxiliaries are in charge of the military, police, and executive duties. Ruling and making laws is reserved for the Philosopher Rulers whose actions are all intended for the good of the state. To ensure that public good continues to be foremost

Plato’s account of a tyrant is close to that of the “great” Soviet Leader, Joseph Stalin. In Book IX of the Republic, Glaucon notes that under a tyrannic rule, a city or state will be tragic and depressing; additionally, it is also stated that city will always experience more freedom and content under a king. (Bloom, 257). This account is a key factor in comparing Stalin with the Republic, as Stalin’s ambitions were similar with Plato’s descriptions. Using other descriptions from Plato’s Republic, it clear that Joseph Stalin fits Plato’s account of a tyrant. The Soviet regime under Joseph Stalin suffered greatly and the tyrant rule of Stalin was oppressive, restrictive, and produced great amounts of casualties. We are comparing how Plato’s account for a tyrant is accurate of the results of Joseph Stalin; that a city will experience freedom with kingship, as well as darkness and scrutiny under a tyranny.

As Socrates was building the city, according to his different accounts of how city ought to be. There were different classes of people and the position they held in the cities community. In a just city as Socrates claims there will be citizens, guardians and a philosopher king as the ruler of the city. In order to maintain order, politics influence on human nature by politically influencing laws such as stopping peoples from changing their division of labour. For example, Socrates claims that it is impossible for an individual to practice many crafts proficiently as discussed by the companions earlier. (Plato, 1992, p. 49). The reason there is division of peoples in the city is so the city can run efficiently, if there were many people doing many thing, there will not be an efficiency of work. For this reason, politics constrained human nature in which individual as human nature wants to do more than one thing, but it is stopped through influence of ideology of how one ought to be. That individual does not want to do one job for the rest of his life; this form of ideology is first form pre capital which was discussed in the republic. Continuing, as politics influence increases in the republic the more constrained human nature becomes. In politics, the political thought of Socrates creates a guardian for city, a protector to defend against an enemy or to conquer land for the city. In

Wren writes that the idea of the appropriate leaders "was an initial fiction that was "created or invented in response to the challenges of societal governance"¦" (p.13) Wren states that Plato was particularly astute in regards to "implications for leaders in a democracy." (p.14) In a democracy, according to Wren "the people do not recognize what is best for them, particularly with respect to who should lead them." (2007, p.14) Plato utilized allegorical methods to describe the problems of leading a democracy stating that the people "honor as a good and profoundly wise person any obsequious flatterer who"¦can minister agreeable to their humors, which he is clever enough to anticipate." (Wren, 2007, p.14)

In Plato’s life of a tyrant he is talking about the tyrannical man and how he evolves from a democratic one and what becomes of him once he starts to exist. He goes into talking about how the how he is ruled by his desires to do bad criminal things. Plat says they are the awake when everyone else is sleep. A person who will commit a foul murder, doesn’t let that fact that what he is doing is shameful stop him from doing so. He is saying that the tyrant is bad and does every kind of shameless thing even with his family trying to win him back but being disgraceful and rebellious so to speak is winning. Is the tyrant happy?No, Plato thinks that this type of life is ratchet, that can’t trust anyone and has no friends and is living is fear. This

In The Republic, Plato was highly influenced by Socrates' beliefs that a democracy in the Athenian society was useless. At this time Socrates had already been executed for teaching his philosophy, however Plato believed that reason alone would guide the Greeks out of their political turmoil. His theory was, philosophers should be kings to better the welfare of the government and people. Plato quotes "genuine philosophers are those whose passion it is to see the truth."(82) One bias example that Plato opposed, was using the human body at the artists disposal. What makes the artists vision of a human body perfection? Who is wise enough

Also you can 't blame him because as it is visible in the Republic, Thrasymachus says, "I declare justice is nothing but the advantage of the stronger". All that this quote basically incorporates is that justice is nothing to normal people but in essence it 's just an advantage to those people who are rulers and are stronger than the ordinary people. He brings up a great point stating that when robbery and violence are practiced by normal people its considered injustice, however when this is practiced by mass or most often by rulers or those in charge its considered justice. Since the rulers themselves do not obey the principles that they impose on the citizens, they are themselves "unjust". Because of this the tyrant himself is happy because he breaks the rules of justice that he imposes on the weak people below him. When you are allowing yourself to be governed and controlled by someone else rather than yourself it is not justice it 's basically considered slavery. These are all the ideas brought upon by Thrasymachus in the Republic. However on the other hand in Book I of the Republic Plato 's mentor Socrates tries and contests Thrasymachus ' ideas. Socartes brings up a great point in saying that if the weak themselves were strong enough to prevent someone from becoming a tyrant then they themselves are strong meaning they don 't need help. Socartes basically insists that a lot of the power of the man has to do with his

Already, in this vein of reasoning, Aristotle will begin to question, in a way, the very thing he has just set forth as good and orderly. As if asking or the listener knowing what is to come, he asks if the natural ruler (the king, the father) and the natural subject (slave, child) “have same or different virtues” and if a noble nature is required in both - as with all citizens - why is the natural ruler’s position in perpetuity (Book 1, Part 13)? He argues that the degree to which one is a natural ruler or natural subject has to do with the level of virtue one holds just as within the mind the higher virtues subjugate and regulate the lesser traits. In those with the most of said controls we find our finest rulers whether in the home, the

Plato suggests the entirety of everything a ruler does is for the advantage of the ruled. He does so in an analogy between the ruler of a society and the pilot of a ship. He writes, “the ruler will consider or command the benefit not of the pilot, but of the man who is a sailor and is ruled" (Plato 21). In putting the society before himself, he tells everyone what is known as the Noble Lie. In it, he claims that everyone in the city belongs to the city because they were born there and that there is a divine sanction to their natural hierarchy. This promotes an expectation of loyalty and keeps everyone satisfied with their standings in life within their trades. Through the Noble Lie, the ruler serves the city by ensuring order continues and that everyone is committed to the continued success of the city.

There are five character types discussed by Plato, which are the following: timarchic character, democratic character, philosopher king/ruler, oligarchic character, and last but not least, tyrannical character. Those who are the corrupt or imperfect type are given these title’s: timarchic, oligarchic, democratic, and tyrannical. All these types have political-sounding classifications. The justification for this, claimed by Plato, is that in each variety of societal structure there is a corresponding individual who is respected within it, so that in an oligarchy, for example, the values and attributes of the oligarchic character are praised. Similarly, in a timarchic society, the qualities you discover in the timarchic individual would be acclaimed as virtues. However,