Thaj Gemayca N.

Permites
Political Theory

PLATOS REPUBLIC BOOk III

(Reflection)
Book III discussed about what kind of stories should be told to the future
guardians of the city. As before, only virtuous deeds and characters are to be
favourably depicted. The guiding concern here is the good of the city as a
whole, not that of individual members or family units. Hades, for instance,
should not be depicted as a frightening place, for then guardians might not be
so willing to go to their dead for the polis.
One need not be a libertarian to be alarmed by the values and
assumptions underlying this program. The good of the whole is given an at
least quasi-absolute status, and seems at times to be something almost
opposed to the good of its individual members--for it is to be oriented toward
an extra-human conception of the Form of the Good. (I would not a have
problem, by contrast, with a theory that sometimes demands sacrifices of the
individual for a collectively negotiated good, responsive the actual needs and
desires of the populace; though the details of negotiating this good without
trampling rights of minorities, etc., may be an endlessly thorny issue, I can at
least embrace the ideal in a way that I am reluctant to embrace the Platonic
Good.) We'll have to discuss this further when Plato elaborates on his theory of
the Good, for I am almost certainly basing my judgment on a simplified,
perhaps even caricatured, conception of his metaphysics of forms. Plato
himself had little faith in the common man's ability to understand and accept
his proper place in the political order. Even though falsehoods are bad, he
endorses mass deceit of the populace in order to bring their souls into
harmony with the truth. This is his infamous "Myth of the Metals." Everyone in
the city is to be told that he occupies the place he does by virtue of having a
specific nature, each associated with a particular metal, and that all are equally
children of the same earth mother. In this way everyone is to feel akin to
everyone else and to accept the position he is allotted and the rule of those
above him.
In the last paragraph of this book, Plato attempts to address some of the
concerns you expressed about the loyalties of the guardians. The guardians, he
stipulates, are not to own private property, they are to be sustained by taxes
on the city, and they are to share common quarters with one another. The idea
here is that they be nurtured into a completely universal sense of selfhood,
and, lacking any particular commitments to which they could oppose the good
of the whole, come to completely identify their individual good with the good of
the polis.

Thaj Gemayca N. Permites

Political Theory

PLATOS REPUBLIC BOOk IV

(Reflection)

The early part of this book is a bit disorganized, at least to my mind.

Anyway, the guardians are to protect education at all costs. With successful
education, the citizens will see for themselves the value of all Socrates says; the
upshot is that much of what appears to be compulsory may be undertaken
willfully by dutiful citizens. There's also a nod to the possession of wives and
children in common, here, but again, if memory serves, this will be developed
more fully later in the text.
The educational system will be rigidly conservative. There's something to
be said for tradition, of course, but any system which is incapable of change
tends to be rendered obsolete, so Socrates would do well to provide some manner
of incorporating small changes into his system. Socrates describes the final
outcome of education as "a single, newly finished person". He then reiterates why
it will be unnecessary to legislate about "the care of parents, hair styles, the
clothes and shoes to wear," etc. It is true that education is a powerful tool; as
Vladimir Lenin once said: "Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I
have sown will never be uprooted." But if the education given proves insufficient
to the aims for which it was adopted, it's unclear to me why Socrates would not
attempt to legislate for the good of his society. They next consider legislation
about "market business." Socrates points out that for good men, no laws will be
necessary, but for bad men, attempts to "put a stop to cheating" etc. are best
likened to lobbing heads off a Hydra. At last insisting that custom dictate various
other practices--burying the dead, etc., the city is complete. It is now time to
see whether wisdom, courage, moderation and justice exist therein. Once three
have been found, which ever virtue remains will be that which is left in the city.
This seems strange, but it makes sense given that the participants in the dialogue
do not simply know what justice is, but must find it in some other way, by a
process of elimination, evidently.
Wisdom is found in the guardians, courage in the soldiers. Moderation, or
self-control, is found in that "the desires of the inferior many are controlled by
the wisdom and desires of the superior few." But whereas wisdom and courage
were found only in a segment of the populace, moderation is a kind of harmony
which extends to ruler and ruled alike.