Utopic Dreams

Utopic Dreams

The philosophical questions like “what should be the ideal world?” have been asked among people, who have reached the average living standards and had time to think and discuss. In the book “Republic” written in 380 B.C. by Plato, Socrates, Plato’s teacher, explains how to create the perfect city and interrogates himself and his interlocuters, to find out to the way to the best society. Socrates thinks that in order to set up a minimal city (first step to kallipolis) we should adopt the idea of the principle of specialisation.

First of all, we should know that the principle of specialisation comes on the scene when Socrates tries to answer “what is justice”. Instead of defining justice as behavioral norms as we do genarally, Socrates tries to find justice in the structure of the city. He believes that it is easy to analyze justice in the city than it would be to analyze it in the soul “…there is more justice in the larger thing, and it will be easier to learn what it is … let’s first find out what sort of thing justice is in a city and afterwards look for it in the individual, observing the ways in which the smaller is similar to the larger.”(p43 369a)- Therefore before all else we should examine the city, within the principle of specialisation in order to reach the justice in souls. We can that the just structure of the city is summed up by the principle of specialisation. So that Socrates focuses on the foundatiton of the minimal city and defines it “and because people need many things, and because

one person calls on a second out of one need and on a third out of a different need, many people gather in a single place to live together as partners and helpers. And such settlement is called a city.”( p44 369c). I consider that this definition is absolutely true, that a city comes into being because human beings cannot satisfy all their individual needs on their own, and recognize that they need to work cooperatively with others. Afterwards while creating the minimal city, Socrates comes into our main subject “the principle of specialisation” which basically means that each person should practice exclusively throughout life the unique craft for which he or she has a natural capability. If we apply this principle to the Socrates’s minimal city, each member of the society will play the role for which his nature best suits him and not meddle in others business. A man whose nature suits him to farming must farm and do nothing else; a man whose nature best suits him to building objects with wood must be a carpenter and not bother with any other business. Socrates believes that this is the only way to secure that each job is done most efficiently and only way to the just city.

The idea of principle of specialisation is based on the Socrates’s supposition that everything that exists has a function. He broaches this argument in order to explain justice especially to show the difference between the just and the unjust. He gives very convincing examples parallel to his supposition. Socrates asks to Glaucon that “Is it possible to see with anything other than eyes? …Or to hear with anything other than ears?” and concludes “Then, we are right to say that seeing and hearing are the functions of eyes and ears”.(p29 352e) Honestly, if we think not only generally but also in specifically everything that exist including plants, animals (as gives another example about the horse’s function), objects and people have a unique function. Then he highlights that each thing which has a particular function is assigned also have an excellence. (p30 353b) So, connected to his examples, eyes and ears have their own peculiar excellence( perfect sight and hearing) and if they are deprived their own virtue, they will perform their function badly. Now what about the function of human beings? and its relevance to the principle of specialisation? Socrates believes that living is the function of the soul therefore soul has its own peculiar excellence. Then he follows “…that a bad soul rules and takes care of things badly and a good soul does all these things well.”( p31 353e). In other words the just man who is the absolute holder of his excellence, will live well, and the unjust one who is deprived of his own peculiar virtue, will live badly. In conclusion, when we assemble this assumption to the principle of specialisation, we will create the just city where there are just citizens. Then the importances of the principle definitely

appear to the scene: There won’t be any civil war, hatred and struggle between themselves, while their peculiar excellence brings them companionship and a sense of commmon purpose, helping one another to arise the ideal society. By this mentality, as I mentioned before, principle of specialisation will keep the farmer from carpentering and the carpenter from farming and more important, it will keep both the farmer and the carpenter from becoming guardians and rulers (because citizens are just). Nobody meddle to each other business while they are aware of their function in the society.

On the other hand, principle of specialisation has some other characteristics. Socrates argues that “ in the first place, we are not born alike, but each of us differs somewhat in nature from the others, and being suited to one task, another to another…” and asks Glaucon “ does one person do a beter job if he practices many crafts or – since he’s one person