In Plato’s Republic the philosopher creates an ideal efficient state built on a system that places people into one of three social classes based on their natural inclinations as a young child. Plato divides the people of the ideal state into the three main social classes: guardians, auxiliaries, and craftspeople. Each class has a very specific and defined job they must accomplish in order to preserve the harmonious state of the republic.
The most prevalent group in society is the craftspeople who are mainly concerned with the appetites of life as well as creating goods for the community. The craftspeople are needed to carry out the labor intensive jobs that are necessary to prevent a crash in the society at the lowest level. Craftspeople are the worker ants that build and create that which is beautiful and provides function. They must produce enough of a good for themselves as well as the rest of the community (Plato 371 a). The second class of people is the Auxiliaries or soldier people.
The auxiliaries can be male or female but have the main purpose of protecting the city from outside communities and elements. The soldiers have the spirited psychic element which includes ambition, anger, aggression, and gymnastics. The soldiers are in a higher social class because they have more aptitude for such tasks as defense. The highest social class is the guardians of the city which rule and guide the people. They are the smallest and most elite group of the three due to the combined amount of natural abilities involved in the people who become the rulers. The Guardians have the rational psychic element which allows them to resolve conflicts and find the most efficient way to create the most harmonious state. The guardians are able to stay true to their beliefs after the three trials of theft, pain, and fear or pleasures. The lower classes may bend their own moral codes after enduring one of the trials due to their weaker moral nature.
The three categories of people are divided to place those of like natural abilities. The guardians are lovers of “learning and wisdom” (Plato 376 b). Plato reasons that since the rulers of the state are to be those who desire the learning of knowledge and truth, that they are also philosophers. The philosophers have more wisdom than the common people due to their variety of experiences and ability to decipher what is just and unjust. Plato believes that the guardians, auxiliaries, and craftsmen all show a natural tendency towards their class at a very young age. Plato relies heavily on censorship of the youth’s education in the state. He proposes that the growth a child’s soul through story telling should be “shaped” by the guardians who know what is best for the state (Plato 377 c).
Plato believes that the guardians must place citizens with natural inclinations toward certain occupation into one of the three classes to form the “ideal” state. To create a just state everyone must do their job to the fullest and not stray from their natural talents. One must focus purely on the job designated to them to reach the greatest amount of productivity and justice in the society. The soul at its most harmonious state when it is closes to justice and doing right actions. Thus for a harmonious and just state each of the citizens must participate actively in their assignments from the guardians. The auxiliaries must defend the state to release their natural aggression towards those who engage in conflict with them. The guardians will do what is best for the state because they have the knowledge and understanding of the Forms. Without knowledge of the forms the lower classes are unwise to the ways of the true world.
It is suspicious that Plato believes philosophers should rule the state because he is a philosopher himself. Thought philosophers are supposed to hold the good of the state high above their own welfare, it seems as if Plato is placing himself as a high ruler of the ideal state. Plato is inadvertently saying that he believes he is one of the most knowledgeable people and would be the fittest person to rule a society. Plato fills the qualifications that he planned out himself. Plato relies greatly on the belief that the people of the community will be broken of the desire to make their own decisions at a young age and not resist the rules of the city later on in life. It is improbably that all humans would be receptive to the brainwashing that Plato is proposing. A great flaw in Plato’s new “Republic” is the absence of free will and freedom itself. Though Plato believes he is creating a Just society, he is not creating a free one. Without freedom of any kind, it is statistical that at least several people will develop a defiant nature and revolt. A great flaw in Plato’s republic is the absence of contingency plans for a revolution from the people.
Plato would argue that the people of the state do not know enough about their situation to make their own decisions, in part because the rulers would tell falsehoods. The people would be overjoyed that they were lucky to mate with a person equal to them in the festivals. Since the children would know only the situation that was created for them by the guardians they would not find a reason to rebel and make their own choices. Plato may argue that people who have been oppressed from childhood do not have the knowledge of how things could be. Even in citizens visited other cities and witnessed a different culture they would be too comfortable with their own republic to try to change it. Those who are most wise are responsible for those who do not understand the ways of life and the laws of the forms. Plato would reason that his state is just and healthy because the citizens would be happy in their positions and unwilling to change.
I do not believe that Plato has created a Just state with his method of three distinct social classes. The lengths the guardians of the society must go through to reach the ideal end are drastic immoral. Plato’s plan to strictly manipulate children’s education and development as well as his plan to hold festivals as a means of reproduction are unethical an improbably successful. By eliminating the free will of people in a society the citizens become no more than puppets pulled by the ruler’s desires. I believe Plato’s republic is deeply flawed and would most certainly fail.
