Plato's Republic

A detailed Summary of Plato's Republic

In Plato's Republic, Socrates argues that a perfect state is one that is just and made of truly just men. The key to his Republic is that the perfect justice is the Form of Justice, attained by a long process of philosophic study. In order for this Republic to be perfectly ruled, those who rule it must be well versed in the Form of Justice, so that human vice will not corrupt their ruling. Socrates asserts that in order for these prospective rulers to attain Justice and for the citizens to live in Justice, all must be educated with lies and through elaborate censorship.

To understand Socrates' motives behind lies and censorship, we must understand the basic social structure of the Just society. According to Socrates, each man must have only one job and he must have a natural capability for that job. The highest social class in the Just society is the guardians. They have the best breeding and the highest capacity for learning. Directly below the guardians is the warrior class, who guards the city and expands its boarders. Lastly is the working class, who makes up the largest sect of the population. Each of these classes has a corresponding virtue, which also may be found in the Just man. The guardian

Since a philosopher in training, or learner, does not experience things deemed "bad" by teachers who have already reached the Forms, the learner is only understanding half of all there is to experience. For example, one determines hot by lack of cold and vice versa. If one never felt any variation from temperature, one would not understand hot or cold because they have no basis for comparison. If the learner only experiences things deemed "good," even if we are certain that these are the experiences closest to the Form of Good, the learner himself can never attain the Good in that way. Since the learner is not experiencing all there is to experience regarding an issue himself, he cannot climb the divided line past "reason."

Instead, if a model of education based on Kohlberg's theory of moral development were used, the full truth could be inserted into education at increments which would do nothing but benefit the learners. For example, in early youth, one can make a child do something good via threat and reward. Next, a subtler version of that may be used - acceptance. If a behavior is unacceptable, it should be first shunned then ignored, while a beneficial one should be praised within a social setting.

During the socialization process, small negatives may be introduced into the group. For example, if the group held the firm belief that girls could only wear skirts and an outsider girl came into the group wearing pants, then the group would learn to express that there had been a social breech, what it was and the group would be able to say, no I don't want to be near girls that wear pants. After that, they wouldn't be amazed if they saw a girl in pants, but they would have already written into their vocabulary that some people do these things, but that this group does not contain any people who follow that standard.

Using the information about the social structure of the Just republic, according t

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Approximate Word count = 1302
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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