Socrates'sKallipolis Is A Greater Good?

Socrates explains his theory of the city and its rules as the nature of ones life. It is not moral to fight against it. We were welcomed to live in it and accept it how it is.

In his text, The Republic, Plato leads us through an elaborate thought experiment in which he creates the ideal city. Throughout The Republic Plato constructs the laws and societal structures of what he deems will lead to a high functioning society. He names this city Kallipolis. A cornerstone of Kallipolis’ structure is Plato’s principle of specialization. The Principle of Specialization argues that each member of society must do the job in which he is best suited. Plato explains “The result, then, is that more plentiful and better-quality goods are more easily produced if each person does one thing for which he is naturally suited, does it at the right time, and is released from having to do any of the others.” (Plato, 370c) Therefore,

Since the proper order of the city has now been established, it is time to turn inward to one’s soul to determine where justice and injustice might lie, and what the difference is between the two. Plato believes, “if an individual has these same three parts in his soul, we will expect him to be correctly called by the same names as the city if he has the same conditions in them” (Cahn 148). Now that Plato has found the four virtues within the larger environment of the city, he now wants to investigate their relationship to the smaller environment of the soul.

Socrates’s offering to the jury is to tell the truth, despite not admitting that it is simply his truth and thus not the entire truth, he is not able to convey to the jury the importance of not killing him. A bad citizen would try to undermine the jury by committing perjury and disobeying the decision of the court. He however, wouldn’t even like it if the jury committed perjury on his behalf, “Socrates says what he means on the stand hold honesty above all else, so when he is offered a chance to escape from his execution he does not take it. By refusing to escape, he reiterates how sticking to agreements is important to him. Socrates' commitment to the societal agreement between him and the city where he is allowed to live in

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

Kallipolis is a Greek word meaning beautiful city. In Republic Plato used this word to name his perfect city. According to Plato this city has the most excellent social structure, most effective education system and administration. In Republic he explains rules of this city and what should be done to establish kallipolis. The important thing is he genuinely believes that kallipolis can be constructed under some right circumstances such as geopolitical position. I also believe that constructing a city that conform Plato’s requirements and definitions, is possible. However maybe the most crucial problem about Plato’s kallipolis is how long will the city survive? I think this city will not survive long. Its demise will not come from external threats such as an invasion provided

Glaucon argues that no person would want to live in a city such as this one.  He argues that “If [the citizens of the city] aren’t to suffer hardships, they should recline on proper couches, dine at a table, and have the delicacies and desserts that people have nowadays.” (p.47 372 d)*  Socrates refers to the city that Glaucon believes the citizens should live in as the “luxurious city”*. The luxurious city, because it has poetry, music, art, desserts, comfortable furniture, prostitutes, and other delicacies, contains a much larger amount of people than did the healthy city. This increase in population requires more land, which must be seized from neighbors. The seizing of land combined with the fact that the luxurious city is much more desirable to attack than the healthy city leads to war*. Socrates believes that “warfare is a profession*(374b)”, so there must be a class of citizens

There are times in every mans life where our actions and beliefs collide—these collisions are known as contradictions. There are endless instances in which we are so determined to make a point that we resort to using absurd overstatements, demeaning language, and false accusations in our arguments. This tendency to contradict ourselves often questions our character and morals. Similarly, in The Trial of Socrates (Plato’s Apology), Meletus’ fallacies in reason and his eventual mistake of contradicting himself will clear the accusations placed on Socrates. In this paper, I will argue that Socrates is not guilty of corrupting the youth with the idea of not believing in the Gods but of teaching the youth to think for

Socrates spent his time questioning people about things like virtue, justice, piety and truth. The people Socrates questioned are the people that condemned him to death. Socrates was sentenced to death because people did not like him and they wanted to shut him up for good. There was not any real evidence against Socrates to prove the accusations against him. Socrates was condemned for three major reasons: he told important people exactly what he thought of them, he questioned ideas that had long been the norm, the youth copied his style of questioning for fun, making Athenians think Socrates was teaching the youth to be rebellious. But these reasons were not the charges against him, he was charged with being an atheist and

In book VI of The Republic, Plato uses Socrates as his mouthpiece to reveal the ideal city. Plato points out that the idea city is based on the foundations of three basic forms. Consequently, these three forms are manifested in the individuals that make up the city. The functioning of the city will thus depend on the analogy of the structures within the city and within the souls of the people. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the argument by Socrates with respect to the three forms in the city and in the soul. Additionally, the paper seeks to analyze the rationale behind Socrates’ comparison and subsequent establishment of analogy between the forms in the city and the forms in the city in the context of justice. The paper also

It is argued that one of the most important part of the book is when Socrates tries to define justice and find it in his artificially established city therefore I chose to critically analyze the passage from Book IV. Before starting to assess the argument he

In Book II, Plato begins to construct the first city, Kallipolis, analyzing the fundamental parts of societal life that relate to the needs of human life. Plato says, "The goal is not to create 'happy' individuals

The text emphasis on getting the reader involved in its debates and arguments and that is the real power of this book. We are also given an evocative account of human psychology, about the motivations and outside forces that result in the deterioration of cities and souls, and the effects of that deterioration. This segment serves as one of the culminating arguments for why one should be just rather than unjust. Since Plato's views encompass universal human concerns, which span the centuries between his time and ours, that is, ethics and politics, we should not hesitate to investigate his ideas critically and assess them against our own experience, feelings and common sense. However, certainly it would disregard the true spirit

This paper will argue that money is problematic to Plato largely because his ideal city Kallipolis is filled with virtuous leaders and citizens living in harmony and unity. When money is involved, Plato believes that it is human nature for even the most virtuous leader to lack the will to resist the temptation. Plato discusses the five different types of regimes and constitutions people can live under, Aristocracy, Timocracy, Oligarchy, Democracy and Tyranny. As regimes shift into the next, virtue decreases and corruption in the state arises. When obtaining wealth and acquiring private property is a motivating factor for humans, people start making self-interested decisions; choosing to take part in politics and fighting in wars for personal gains, and not for the benefit of the whole. When education and training is not the priority from an early age, citizens become lazy and there is a divide in the city between the rich and the poor. Plato goes to great lengths to ensure that the city is just by abolishing private property and creating the noble lie.

Throughout Republic, Socrates discusses elements that comprise his ideal city. More specifically, in Republic X, Socrates examines the impact of poetry on his noble state. Coming from a negative standpoint, Socrates says that poetry is detrimental to the city for two reasons: one is that, “[poetry] arouses, nourishes, and strengthens this [inferior] part of the soul and so destroys the rational one…”, and the other, “an imitative poet puts a bad constitution in the soul of each individual by making images that are far removed from the truth and by gratifying the irrational part…”.