The Ideal City : An Ideal City

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

Twenty years after Ancient Greece sentenced Socrates to death for his philosophical nature, his student Plato wrote a book of arguments, in hopes of returning philosophy to the forefront of Athens’ social and educational sphere and as a scathing reminder for those who forced Socrates to drink hemlock that the early philosopher influenced countless others before his death. Throughout his book, Republic, Plato casts himself as his deceased mentor, Socrates, on a search for the definition of justice. In order to discover the all-encompassing meaning of the essential concept, the philosopher— both the author and the persona he adopts as the protagonist— creates an extended analogy, comparing a person to a city. Within a city, three groups divide all citizens: producers, guardians, and rulers. Strict expectations separate each level from the other, as rulers preside over the two lower classes, guardians protect all of the citizens, and producers act as the city’s carpenters and other craftsmen. A producer cannot jump a level to become a guardian; the city allows no social mobility. After much discussion, Socrates defines justice as, “doing one’s own work and not meddling with what isn’t one’s own” (Plato, The Republic IV 433b) and that, “Meddling and exchange between these three classes… is the greatest harm

In The Republic, Plato views justice as a structural force; with political justice dependant on the structure of the city and individual justice residing within the structure of the soul. The just structure is explained in Plato’s principle of specialization: each member of society must fulfill the role that he/she is best suited for and to not cross over into any other roles or to ensure efficiency within the

Plato’s idea of civic justice displays a criteria for specialization that holds each individual responsible for producing their own rendition of excellence that leads to a just life, which produces a just city, and ultimately civic justice. Plato describes civic justice as “…doing one’s own work provided that it comes to be in a certain way” (433b-pg.108).

The case for the ideal city has been discussed from the Socrates era to the modern day. People have made many suggestions on how to form an ideal city where there will be balance, justice, rights, and equality; but not many are logistic. Plato argues in his Republic that to form a just city there must be order, structure, and strict roles; a stark opposite to a modern-day festival that takes place in the middle of a Nevada desert called Burning Man. This festival promotes a society in which there are no strict roles; what people bring to the week-long event is what they can give in exchange for other items they may need. This festival provides a platform in which creativity along with expression are the forefront to its’ existence. Plato’s Republic defines justice as a tension between justice and equality, furthermore where each part of the whole does the job which is appropriate to it. Burning Man defines freedom through allowing a radically different sense of inclusion, giving, and finding one’s inner self through a community that is supportive as well as open. The more ideal city is Plato’s Republic as it provides structure, order, and security; all things humans thrive on for survival.

In the discussion between Socrates and Glaucon that involved how to create an ideal city, they divided the people into three classes: rulers, auxiliaries, and craftsmen. In this city each class has a certain role. The rulers are the highest of rank in the city. They are older, wise men who govern the state and make decisions in the best interest of the

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,

Socrates is known for his unique practice of Greek philosophy. In The Republic, Socrates discusses building a just city with Glaucon and Adeimantus. Throughout The Republic, the three men decide what classes of people will live within the city, and how each person will be assigned to a class. There would not be a place for Socrates in the just city. Through examining the definitions of a guardian, auxiliary, and money maker, one can justify that Socrates is too complex of a man to be categorized as belonging to one specific group.

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

In Book II-IV of Plato’s Republic, Socrates* creates an ideal polis, and in doing so, will find justice in the soul. The two foundational principles of the city that Socrates creates, The City of Pigs** as Glaucon calls it, that eventually grows into the ideal city are self-sufficiency and one person-one art, referred to today as specialization. Due to the fact that individual people are not self-sufficient*, that is they are not able to survive on their own without the help of other people, the citizens of the city must take up a profession and utilize trade. Socrates believes in one person-one art*, the idea that each individual should only practice the craft that they are most naturally suited to do. Socrates considers war to be its own

Answer: One part of the political system focuses on specialization, the idea that each person would perform that "job" for which he is most suited. He would then stick to that job and that would satisfy him and thus keep structural order. Once this specialization occurs, there will be classes in the city and each class will do what it needs to do to make the city run smoothly: warriors, rulers, and producers will keep the city functioning smoothly. Rulers will make the rules, warriors will carry out the rulers ' commands, and producers will only figure out how their production helps the city. Socrates believes that if the city is set up this way, it will be a just city.

Prior to Kallipolis being thought of, the idea of the first city, or the “City of Pigs” was created. It was in this city that the Principle of Separation came to life. The Principle of Separation is the idea that societies are formed for a particular purpose. Plato believed that, no single person working alone can fulfill an entire society’s needs. For a society to succeed, the responsibilities must be separated and specialized, “each person does one thing for which he is naturally suited and does it at the opportune moment, because his time is freed from all others” (textbook page 101). For example, one man making all of the shoes, one woman growing all of the vegetables, etc. This provides the key to developing a worthwhile society. Everyone is so busy doing their own tasks that they do not have time for conflict. For Plato, no conflict also meant no need for justice-eliminating the question of “what is justice?” altogether.

Principally, the explanation of the Socrates and the defense against the false accusations of youth incitement and the devaluation of the human worth introduces the concept of the just and unjust city in the ancient Greek that aimed to heighten the comprehension of the social order and equality. According to the presentation of the speech, a just city accommodates the aspirations of every citizen and provides equal opportunities for everyone to express their view and perform the different tasks. Besides, a tolerant society according to the speech judges a person base on the actions and the morals instead of the predetermined standards that sometimes are incoherent. Hence, Plato’s writings significantly enable the role allocation in the society encompassing the ruling elite, the jurymen, and the subjects. According to the perspective of Socrates, he helps the audience to understand his perceptions of life and his roles in the society including enlightening the populace. Hence, the ruling elite as extrapolated in the publication has the obligation of providing rational governance structures and upholding the integrity. Plato’s narrative also introduces the next category of the Guardian. In this perspective, he compares Socrates to the horsefly that keeps the animal active without harming the horse. Therefore, the guardians have the responsibility of safeguarding the society from the internal and the external harms and ensuring the sustainability of the future generations. Finally, Socrates perspectives inform the public to ensure ethical decision making to ensure that the working class or persons entrusted with leadership roles do not make quick decisions that harm the critics. Thus, he suggests that the working class of the society should ensure the provision of adequate and accessible commodities and services. Even though the defense does not mention the roles, it is evident that Socrates aimed to

In his Socratic dialogue The Republic, Plato’s primary concern is to define and defend the concept of justice. Socrates, his mentor, serves as narrator and Plato’s interpreter in the dialogue. He discusses the meaning of justice and how one can achieve it, and ultimately reach happiness. The definition given to justice, although not completely solidified, is that being just means doing what one is best suited for and focusing on one’s own behavior and life. His strategy is to present the idea of a utopian just city-state, and derive the notion of individual justice from that, suggesting that his definition of it will apply to both large political structures and single human beings. The hypothetical city-state is ruled by Philosopher-Kings –

Furthermore, the city contains no wealth or poverty as there is not a currency. This is easily maintained as the city’s size is monitored and limited so that it cannot become ungovernable under the chosen system. Most interestingly is the fact that the city is to be defined by four virtues, including: wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice. While one can easily argue that our current republic is built around the concept of justice and courage, the other virtues must be argued. Wisdom was had by our nation’s founders, yet was not had by the citizens to the point that the founders did not trust the average citizen’s wisdom to elect the most qualified individuals for office. Nevertheless, regardless of what some republicans and democrats may say about each other, wisdom is a common trait within our government and our officials. Moderation is the virtue that I would say is far from represented within our society. Our economy is built on the greed of citizens and the flow of capital. On this aspect, we cannot compare to Plato’s ideal city. The final aspect of the city that I find to be an interesting comparison to today’s society is the fact that Plato allowed for occasional class mobility if an individual's did not fit into their assigned class. In a way, our society does allow for occasional class mobility as well, but that mover derives from either hard work, luck, or investment. Plato’s division of classes showcases the rigidness of today’s society as well as his own. Today individuals may feel trapped as they work harder to advance and get nowhere while those born into a higher monetary class work less and still have more. This can be yet another aspect that the white working class was frustrated with when they Elected Trump. The American dream is dwindling and hard work does not necessarily still pay