Both Confucius and Plato considered the question, what form of community is best for all those who are most able to realize their ideal life. Living well is having a life that is both satisfying and fulfilling. Displeased with their individual state governments and cultures both Confucius and Plato began to question the basis of their society. Both men strove toward a Utopia, were all people could live a satisfying and fulfilling life.

Based on Plato's experience in Athens and with the unjust death of his teacher and friend Socrates, Plato had come to distrust the workings of democracy. It was obvious to him that individuals could not attain a good, ethical life unless they lived in a just and rational state. Plato thus constructed the idea of the ideal state or society which is described in The Republic. Plato believed that "the greater the unity of the state the better" and that is what all people should strive for in order to live well. In his ideal state, the republic is to be divided into three classes, the rulers, who are the philosophers with ethical knowledge of what is good in human life, the guardians, who keep order in the society and identify their goo

Confucianism is much better because it addressed the problems within the society without creating new ones. Plato's Republic sounds good, but if put to practical use it would be a disaster.

Confucius never comes right out and says what you need to live well or what is "good". Goodness I think is found through the pursuit of knowledge and intelligence and also by the constant examination of one's self. The problem is that people don't strive very hard to build up their moral character and to better themselves. This point is proved in the passage: " I have never yet seen anyone whose desire to build up his moral power was as strong as his sexual desires" (Book 9 v.4). Goodness is a practice and not a state of being. People have to work to be good and find goodness in themselves. "If one looks out for faults it is only as a means of recognizing goodness" (Book 4 v.7). We should thus fix our faults and to learn from others and their experiences. That is part of the reason why Confucius says to respect your elders because you can learn from their experiences and wisdom they have gained.

Plato defines a city as a "settlement of many people who gather in a single place to live together as partners and helpers" (396C). All members of the society contribute to it by doing what they are best suited, by their nature, to do, and irrespective of their own judgments about how best to live their lives (462C). Thus, the society is like one individual guided by the same beliefs, morals, and thoughts. Plato believes that only the city constructed in the Republic is genuinely a city because other are too divided between rich and poor and have too many conflicting interests and values (422E). Plato's ideal of living well is living within his society in the Republic where unity is the root of goodness and that the virtues of wisdom, moderation, and justice are the components of the good life in a civilization.

Confucius was also disgusted with the direction his government and culture were going. But instead of creating a totally new society like that in The Republic, Confucius wanted to get back to the old way of life. Confucius believed that his societ

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