Plato

Plato has a concept of the ideal city and he thinks that society should be ruled by a king who knows a lot about philosophy. He also believes that there is a need for strict division of labor. Some people ask "is this the best way to run a society?" This essay will be answering that question and any others that happen to come up.

Plato argues that it is very important to have a well ordered city and that's its important to have people specialized in certain areas. He finds that the most efficient was to do this is to divide the city into groups and assign them special tasks according to their own special abilities. (Draeger Notes) Plato chose three groups to be in his ideal city they were: The Guardians, The Auxiliaries, and the Craftsmen.

The Guardians were the ruling class. They happened to be the best, the brightest, and the most educated people in the city. They were also educated to rule as philosopher kings. Plato seems to think that the guardians should be like a well trained dog, they should be nice and gentle to their own people but when their enemy's come around be very harsh and mean. I find this statement to be true. If your going to have a ruler you want him to be nice to the people. If you have a ruler who is mean to his own people, then the city isn't going to function very well. No one wants to have a ruler who they are deadly afraid of, they want someone who they can go to and talk with about the city. It's also very important that the ruler is mean to the enemy's. If they city gets attacked you don't want a ruler who's going to be afraid and not want to do anything, you want someone who is going to take action and go after the people who are trying to hurt his city and people. Plato also stated that the guardians must be spirited, the people don't want a ruler who is always down they want someone who is going to be happy to take care of there city. He said that "philosophy, spirit, speed, and strength must all be combined in the nature of anyone who is to be a fine and good guardian of our city" (Morgan p56). That is very true, a city needs guardians with those traits, he must be spirited and must have strength because being a guardian is a very tiring job, you are always working, and if anyone ever tries to invade the city you must show that you have strength and try to fight back. To get the guardians to this point Plato believed they had to go to excessive training in the physical means as well as mentally. He would censor any type of poetry that would set a bad example, such as stories with the gods drinking excessively and having bad behavior. He didn't want the guardians to read such things because if they read about the gods acting like that they would not see a problem with themselves acting in that way. He also believed that they should only listen to music that was not to loud or soft, but right in the middle. The question gets asked about whether they should be imitators or not ? I believe they should. Its gets argued that if they "dabbled in many things they would surely fail to achieve distinction in any of them." (Morgan p 67) I don't agree with that, I think the guardians should go and try new things, this way they can really understand all the people who live in his city. If he has no idea how to do anything but rule how can he understand what the people around him are doing or going through. It goes on to say that if they are to imitate they must imitate people who are courageous. self controlled, pious, and free. (p. 67) I do agree with that statement, I think that the guardians should imitate people who possess those ideals. You want your guardian to be courageous so that when you go to war he can lead the warriors in, you want him to be self controlled because you don't want to worry about the ruler going and getting into trouble because he didn't know when enough was enough.

The questions gets asked that if someone is properly educated in music and poetry it makes them graceful, but if they are not trained in them it makes them the opposite. (p. 71) I disagree with that statement, just because someone hasn't been able to get educated in music doesn't mean that they are going to be any less graceful that someone who is educated in those things. They may not have a great understanding of the music or poetry but it doesn't mean that they are going be un graceful. Its said that the guardians are not allowed to get wealthy or won private property. I disagree with that, I understand that they think that if a guardian gets wealthy it could corrupt him but I also think that its important for people to own land because it gives them responsibility. I don't see how, by just giving them land it is going to corrupt them. I think it will make they grateful that they get to be like other people in their city and own land. I also think that this be-littlies them, because they are suppose to be the rulers but the craftsmen are making money and they get to own land. To me its almost as if the craftsmen have a better life than the guardians. (Draeger Notes)

Its said that guardians are to avoid excessive displays of sexual passion. I do agree with that, I don't want to see my ruler out with various women and acting inappropriately around the young children in the city. As a ruler he needs to act appropriately and leave all his sexual desires in the bedroom. Sex for guardians was not for pleasure but to produce an offspring, once this child was born he was taken away from the parents and raised by nurses. This was so the child was loyal to the state and not just loyal to his family. I disagree with that. I think that the parents should raise him. If the father is a guardian he should be able to raise his son so he can be a good guardian just like him. I also believe that a child can be loyal to the state and to his family. Family is very important but Plato seems to feel that it is not necessary for the guardians and that in the long run being away from family will help the city. The guardians life is all set out for him even before he is even born. His life is organized so that he will become and expert in justice and so that he will rule with good judgment. (Draeger Notes) I don't agree with this because I feel that family is very important. How can someone grow up without a family? How are they going to be able to trust and have relationships with people in the city if they grow up without a family.

Then you have the Auxiliaries, these guys are almost as important as the guardians. These men are important because they protect the city from enemies. These men have to