The Republic

This is a summary of one of the most famous philosophical works, Plato's The Republic. The book is Plato's philosophy of what would create the best system of government.

The book begins with an argument over whether a virtuous man is happier than a man who has a good reputation but isn't virtuous. The non-virtuous argument claims that a man would be happier not being virtuous because he could get ahead in life by cheating, stealing, lying etc., and as long as he isn't caught, he gets both more material wealth and good social standing. The virtuous man argument uses its counterargument to prove its point by saying that a man that is unjust seeks to put his own benefit above all others, a position that inevitably leads to conflict and disunity both on an individual level and societal level. A non-virtuous man or society harms others in order to aggrandize the self, a position likened to harming a horse and then expecting it to perform better. At the end of the day, a non-virtuous man just harms a lot of horses, and if society agrees with the non-virtuous narrative, then every horse will eventually get hurt. For this reason Plato concludes that a good man is ideal both individually and societally.

Plato defines a good man thus: A good man merits out justice without regard to personal relationship and seeks to do harm to no man, even enemies for harm begets harm.

Once the foundation was set for why a good/ virtuous man is best, the argument shifts towards the ideal form of governance. One of the central points is that society should be built on the specialization of talents, according to one's disposition. One such specialization is training and candidacy for the role of governing by a group named the Guardians. The Guardians are comprised of children selected at an early age that show a natural aptitude for excellence of character, most importantly caring about what is best for others. They are then trained to be leaders and the best of them are selected to rule in the governing legislative body named the Rulers. Plato argues that the best rulers are philosopher rulers and a good portion of the book is spent on how to develop moral character for the Guardians.

As being a philosopher is paramount to the system, Plato spends time relaying what a philosopher should be. His definition of philosophy means the love of wisdom, learning, knowledge, and truth. Wisdom is knowledge that results in discipline and harmony. A philosopher, by definition, does not distinguish between what is worth learning about and what is not, but seeks to learn about everything as to gain a greater understanding of it. He gives certain categories of knowledge that should be required for learning that were highly sought at the time according to the epoch's theories on higher knowledge such as geometry, astrology, and harmonics, but such topics probably aren't as relevant today. The main point that certain categories of knowledge may be more beneficial than others still applies although the replacements may be something closer to emotional intelligence, learning how to question your own thinking, knowledge of cultures, etc.

Opinion without knowledge is always a poor thing.

The basic aspects of how Guardians are to be morally trained include there being absolutely no influence of low morality in their youth so they don't even comprehend it, teaching them how to love what is beautiful (morally), teaching them how to think, and teaching them to do what is best for the community. Plato goes quite in depth with his ideas on what is moral vs not and the list of what shouldn't be allowed is extensive. Any story or myth that isn't moral shouldn't be taught, no "immoral" music is to be listened to (which he even describes certain beats or rhythms as immoral), copious drinking or sex isn't allowed, they can't own quite literally anything including a home or land, etc. Basically all of our modern society would be denounced by Plato and the Guardians would have to be raised in an isolated community listening to Beethoven and reading Winnie the Pooh (which might not be allowed because rabbit is a bit of a dick sometimes which is immoral). Nevertheless, Plato believes that complete non-exposure to immorality, and non-ownership, would create a ruling class that doesn't think immorally.

For aren't wealth and goodness related like two objects in a balance, so that when one rises the other must fall?

In addition, women were to be treated as equals to men and equally be eligible for guardianship, a unique concept to the time period. The community of the Guardians was to be communal with no marriages or couplings with the exception of bearing offspring. The children were also to be raised communally so that they hold allegiance to the society, not to any particular persons. There were some other semi sexist, semi purist, semi controlling ideas thrown out there that I'll ignore for the sake of irrelevance mostly around sex and having kids.

The last class, the largest class, is that of the average non-ruler citizen. This class is normal society as we understand it with no restrictions on information, taste, experience, wealth, etc.

Plato understands that certain aspects of society will need to shift in order for this form of government to work:

1. Need to get buy in from the community through a shared system of thought that this government will be in their best interest.

2. Need to focus on education of the populace.

3. Need to train the guardians in fighting should the wealthy seek to overthrow the government.

4. Need to limit states to sizes where unity is able to be achieved.

5. Need to have a standing army to prevent a coup and any person that attempts such an act will have their possessions removed and given to another.