A Philosophy Classic: Plato’s Republic

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Philosophy is one of the most under appreciated subjects in today’s current United States academic curriculum. At its core philosophy is the love of knowledge. Students encountering philosophy classes between the k-12 level is a rarity. Studying philosophy in higher level education is a little more common. One philosophical text which is common to encounter is Plato’s Republic.

Plato is one of the most well known philosophers in history. He studied under Socrates, the founding forefather of western philosophy. Much of what we know about Socrates actually comes from Plato. Plato’s early philosophical texts were focused on the dialogues of Socrates. Later in his life Plato would travel to Egypt and Italy, start his own school, and write more philosophical texts including Republic.

The main question Plato focuses on in Republic is- what is morality? To find the answer Plato performs a philosophical thought experiment; seeking to establish the most moral society possible. Plato’s society is broken up into two classes- the working people and the guardians. In comparison to the United States today, the working people are the equivalent to a U.S. citizen and the guardians would be the equivalent to the government officials. However there are many differences between Plato’s society and ours.

The guardian class were not allowed to own property as a way to prevent corruption of power. All the bare necessities like food and shelter were provided to the guardians by the working class. Guardians were not allowed to have traditional families either. They could engage in sexual activity with each other but a system was put in place so the mothers and fathers wouldn’t know who their children were. This was to prevent nepotism. A demanding education was also required for guardians. The education included higher level learning and service in the military.

The working class only received the bare minimum education which would be similar to today’s k-12 education. After they finished with their education, members of the working class were to receive occupational training at whatever they were best at. For example, if person A is best in architecture he or she would build houses for the community and if person B is best at farming he or she would be responsible for providing food to the community. This system allowed for the community to reach its max potential. Unlike the guardian class, the working class was allowed to have traditional families.

Some of the ideas from Plato’s Republic may seem odd but much of our society is built around those same ideals. For example, the Whitehouse where the president (the ultimate guardian) lives isn’t owned by the president but instead provided by the people (the working class). Plato’s Republic is a challenging read but one worth the effort, especially if you want to understand the roots of our society better.

*This article is based off of Robin Waterfield’s translation of Plato’s Republic.