The issue of justice is also very closely related to that of morality. In the Republic, morality is again a function of the class division dictated by soul dominance. With every individual's place in society rigidly defined, social interaction were also defined. There would be a prescribed way of dealing with someone lese based on which class each member was, and since most immoral behavior has some form of jealousy at its root, the ideal state has carefully removed all such temptations to jealousy. The reason for the ascetic life of the philosopher-kings and warriors is so the commoners see the way of life that the rulers lead and are turned off by it; being ruled by desire and seeing nothing in that way of life to desire, they would cease even to desire power. For Plato, it would have been immoral for someone not equipped to rule to attempt to rule, or to attempt to take the power to rule. The desire of the working class to revolt against the leaders and establish their own less-than-perfect government would have been immoral in a very real and unequivocal way; by removing this temptation, the morality of the working class in this regard is assured. Within the working class, the careful satiation of the people's desires by the philosophers would keep this lowest class from intra-class jealousy and infighting. The warriors and philosophers, it is assumed, would be moral simply by virtue of heir dominant soul aspects; the spirit of the warriors is practically morality incarnate, and with their supreme intellects the philosophers would know that moral action was the best kind. As Plato puts it, "we can adduce that the soul that is bravest and wisest will be least vulnerable to confusion or disorder originating from external sources" (Plato, 381b).
It is even clearer how the causes of jealousy, and thus immorality, are removed in the Soviet state. By giving everyone equal ownership of everything, there should be no need for covetous behavior -- how can one covet something that one already owns? This form of government, even more than Plato's ideal state, assumes the best of human nature. Though neither history nor psychology bear this out, these governments -- especially Communism -- assume that people will be satisfied with comfortably having what they need. What might be considered more realistic philosophies admit that more often than not, humans want what their neighbors have simply because their neighbors have it, and not out of any deficiency in their own status or needs.
Central to both systems of government is the educational system, which is both systems require as a mandate for all members of the state. Plato's ideal state would use education as a form of indoctrination and vetting, whereby the proper place for each child would be determined and their education would follow a certain path, diverging from that of the others at a certain point. Plato sees education as the ideal way to get his ideal citizens on board with this radical form of government; as Socrates says to his listeners, "if our citizens are well educated and learn to be men of discernment....they will see that all things in the city must conform themselves as closely as possible to the proverb that friends have all things in common" (Plato, 424 a). In the Republic's vision of an ideal state, the state and not the parents is the ideal educator and indoctrinator. The same was...
A Critique of Democracy: the Latin American Left Introduction The Latin American Left was mainly inspired by the idealism of Marx. Marx (1873) believed that “the ideal is nothing else than the material world reflected by the human mind and translated into forms of thought.” For the Left, the main problem has always been rooted in class—as materialism is the basis of their worldview, class and class struggle was the biggest issue,
Nature.... General Will The ideas to create just and liberal society go all the way back to ancient times. The first examples of civil society were proposed by Plato and Aristotle, who saw the ideal state to be a republic ruled by the wise men and aristocrats as "first among equal." They didn't go in depth to explain its structure, functions of government in details, etc. These were the first
nations real? What makes them more or less real? Consider two concrete examples of the embodiment of national ideology. Are nations real? Because of their establishment in the political firmament of contemporary society, nations seem or 'feel' so real that we forget most of the nations we take for granted are relatively young constructs. Italy and Germany were fractious, yoked-together provinces well into the 19th century. Even the United States only
War: Vietnam The concept of 'Realism' has been one of the most important and dominating theories that has come into force, especially after the World War II. The theory has not only been responsible for guiding international relations but has also been the predominant force behind the formulations of foreign policies. (Theories of International Relations) For most of its history, Vietnam has been under the domination of foreign rule, most
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now