Introduction
Privacy of life and emotion, personal freedom are fundamental things for the modern democratic world. However, when describing the ideal political regiments in his Republic, Plato shows a view different from the contemporary interpretation of the free and just democratic republic. The Ancient Greek philosopher argues that, while ensuring people’s happiness should be the state’s foremost task, the methods he proposes to be used seem undemocratic and even totalitarian. In his opinion, a state should be ruled by its best representatives, those who are the closest to the Platonian ideal of a human.
General Overview of Political Control Proposed in Republic
Plato describes his ideal political regiment, which he calls Politeia; the Republic is the approximate translation of this term from Ancient Greek. According to this regiment, ordinary citizens are not allowed to make any political decisions, as they will probably be based on their passions, not reason. Instead, he argues that “one man should practice one thing only, the thing to which his nature was best adapted,” meaning that each citizen should be in their place (Plato, 2022, Part 4). A system of education, proposed by him, includes training of ethical qualities, physical education, and intellectual training; this is in addition to the craft which is the most appropriate for each specific citizen.
To distinguish the best representatives of the state, who should rule it, he introduces four essential virtues, the proficiency in which, in Plato’s opinion, makes one closer to an ideal human. He wrote his “notion is that our State being perfect will contain all the four virtues—wisdom, courage, temperance, justice” (Plato, 2022, Part 3). Ethical training, necessary for all Republic’s citizens, is based on those virtues. It is why the philosopher does not support the participation of ordinary people in political decisions. “The rest of the citizens may be courageous or may be cowardly, but their courage or cowardice will not, as I conceive, have the effect of making the city either the one or the other” (Plato, 2022, Part 4). In that way, only those who resist their passions, have a high courage, and use reason to act justly may be allowed to rule. Such people may defend their rulership by using force when it is justified: for example, when their lives are under threat.
Those best representatives are the first two castes of the Republic’s society: the rulers and soldiers, whose Plato calls guardians. Rulers may be described as philosopher kings: they use reason to rule, and their primary virtues are four described above; justice is the highest of them. Their courage is based on the readiness to serve their population; temperance means the steadiness of passions. In that way, they are active leaders who may influence passions, not being caught by them; this means that they can rule. Guardians are people who are responsible for the education and nurturing of all other classes; in addition, their duty is the maintaining of the order in the Republic. While they are not rulers themselves, they possess some power and influence all decisions taken in the state. All other citizens are not engaged in political choices: instead, they should concentrate on their professional activity and do their work best.
To explain the inequality present in his ideal state, Plato argues that “citizens are brothers, yet God has framed you differently. Some of you have the power of command, and in the composition of these, he has mingled gold, wherefore also they have the greatest honor. Others he has made of silver, to be auxiliaries; others again who are to be husbandmen and craftsmen he has composed of brass and iron; and the species will generally be preserved in the children” (Plato, 2022, Part 3). In that way, people are different from their birth, and the wise ruler of the ideal Republic should manage and educate them according to their talents.
To compare his Republic with unjust states, Plato considers four other regiments as subsequent degradation of his ideal Politeia: timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, and tyranny. He describes timocracy as the regiment where all power is in the hands of “men of honor,” unlike the Republic, which is ruled by philosophers (Plato, 2022, Part 8). Then, Plato describes the psychology of persons associated with those states, starting from timocratic men. The philosopher describes them as soldiers, who are “rough with slaves, unlike the educated man, courteous to freemen, and remarkably obedient to authority; he is a lover of power and a lover of honor” (Plato, 2022, Part 8). In that way, timocracy is similar to the modern military dictatorship.
However, Plato argues that this regiment is the best of the unjust states, as it is based on honor and strong hierarchy. He describes oligarchy as the regiment based on money and democracy as based on the passions of ordinary people who select their rulers as the marionettes of these passions. Oligarchy changes timocracy when rulers start to value money luxury more than honor, and democracy changes oligarchy when the poor rebel against the rich and establish their own government (Plato, 2022). In the end, they all degrade to tyranny when the one who has a strong will to power and sinister mind obtain control over a population by using propaganda and brute force. Tyranny is a state ruled by one person who is deeply dependent on their passions; he enslaves everybody he can and live in constant fear and paranoia. While in Plato’s Politeia, everybody is happy, being in the place that fits them most, everybody is extremely unhappy in a tyrannic state, and the tyrant himself is the unhappiest.
Private Life Supervision
The concept of guardians means people who are well-educated in four essential virtues and, thus, can act in the way that makes the state’s population better. Their actions include the education and training of other people to nurture four essential virtues in them. All pleasures should be controlled, too, by reason and logic; only reasonable ones may be allowed. Plato argues that pleasures and luxury are destructive for spirit in general, but some pleasures should be allowed in small amounts to facilitate the development of a human soul. As the main
In Plato’s opinion, all luxury is excessive; he condemns it and believes its widespread is always a sign of degradation. He describes the luxurious cities as “states at fever-heat” and argues that the appearance of cakes, soft sofas, and other things which are not necessary for life shows that society is unhealthy (Plato, 2022, Part 5). Therefore, an ideal state should be ruled strictly according to the reason; all pleasures, luxuries, and passions are proclaimed unnecessary and possibly harmful and should be eliminated.
Art is also a subject of strict control in the Platonian Republic, as it has a profound influence on the human soul, which may be destructive. Music, for example, should be used for raising a people’s spirit, and only for that purpose. Plato argues that “If the element of spirit is naturally weak in him the change is speedily accomplished, but if he has a good deal, then the power of music weakening the spirit renders him excitable. On the least provocation, he flames up at once, and is speedily extinguished; instead of having spirit, he grows irritable and passionate and is quite impracticable” (Plato, 2022, Part 3). In addition, he argues that only those poetry should be allowed that glorifies gods and heroes; other poetry, in his opinion, is vain and unnecessary. In that way, all people’s creativity should be controlled by the state in order to make it better.
One of Plato’s crucial ideas about the ideal state is that all people should be educated by state representatives rather than their biological parents. All reproduction in such a state is controlled, and children are raised by guardians in the community (Plato, 2022, Part 5). The regulation of childbirth comes from the necessity of planning by rulers: they decide whether a state needs new people and how many. Along with that, Plato argues that people should not be distinguished by their sexes, only by internal qualities. He says that, for example, “men and women alike possess the qualities which make a guardian; they differ only in their comparative strength or weakness” (Plato, 2022, Part 5). Thus, the state ought to control even the people’s relations, children’s birth and their education.
Discussion: The Platonian Republic and Totalitarian State
One may see many similarities between the Politeia, described by Plato, and a typical totalitarian state, such as the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany. Plato argues that it is the natural order of things, and following such an order is wisdom. A state, in his scheme, is an organism, and each organism should have a head, a body, hands, and legs; it should not have two heads or consist of a head only (Plato, 2022). The head is the source of all reason and right power; the body maintains the organism’s life, the hands create various staff necessary for living, and the legs allow the organism to move.
Still, there are differences between Plato’s ideal Republic and its realization as the totalitarian state. While totalitarian rulers represent themselves as those who care for their citizens, they are closer to tyrants, described in Part 8 of Republic. They are mostly subjected to their passions and will to power, using the image of a lawful leader only to legalize their tyranny and obtain the right to intrude into people’s privacy.
Plato’s arguments in favor of the “totalitarianism” in the Republic are that the ordinary people do not know what is best for them as they are ignorant of essential virtues. Subsequently, in Plato’s opinion, they cannot decide by themselves. They have weak spirits and are victims of their passions, manipulating them like puppets. Their private life, in that way, has little sense as it is full of emotions and desires which are “unholy” and harmful for themselves (Plato, 2022). Based on that, intrusions in citizens’ privacy by those proficient in understanding the human soul, namely, philosopher rulers and guardians, is not violence but a right and holy deed. However, it is still the intrusion into other people’s free will, which is a kind of oppression.
In my opinion, the arguments presented in Republic that support the totalitarian surveillance in the Platonian ideal state are not persuasive. The main reason is that they are based on the weakness of human nature and the presupposition that most people cannot manage themselves. This is wrong, as all people, in fact, have intellect and free will, being able to decide what to do. If one person (a philosopher-king) or a group of people (guardians described in Republic) are supposed to know more about a person than this person themselves, it may lead to violence. This group of people tries to impose their point of view on others, even with the best intentions; it is nothing more than violent suppression of people’s free will.
I have found the argument of comparing a state with a human body invalid in this context: while one may compare a state with an organism, it is certainly not similar to the human body. Even though philosophers actually know more about the human soul than ordinary people, it does not grant them the right to oppress them and break into their private lives. Each person may think and decide independently, and this fact must be considered when reflecting on the best political regiment. Philosopher rulers would harm people by that much more than by leaving them alone with their passions. If they forbid people to create their art freely and think independently, even if their creations and thoughts are “unholy,” they will not be better than any totalitarian tyrant. It would be much better for people’s souls and spirits if they taught people what they know and organized them most efficiently.
Along with that, Republic introduces several very fruitful ideas useful for the modern political leader. Those are his four political virtues: courage, wisdom, temperance, and justice. Wisdom means the ability to think and reflect: formulate ideas, build connections between various ideas, and understand them from different sides (Plato, 2022). Courage is the ability to manage one’s fears and act in all conditions, independently and freely. Temperance is important as if one is not susceptible to passions and can manage them, one may rule them and, thus, their actions will be more effective than those which are unconscious. According to Plato, justice is the highest value is described as grounded on other three qualities: one acts justly if acting with courage, wisdom, and temperance (Plato, 2022). In that way, while Plato’s scheme of an ideal state is close to totalitarian, his ideas regarding political virtues are worth learning and understanding, as they contribute to more effective and ethical people management.
Conclusion
Plato’s Republic describes a society ruled by a pure reason, rejecting the emotions, art, passions, and pleasures that do not serve this reason. While excessive luxury may actually be the sign of degradation, when ruling elites are wasting their resources, not all luxury is dangerous, as it is a natural desire to buy high-quality goods. Emotions are the subject of people’s private life, and the intrusion in them, even with intentions to make people better, is the violence of privacy. Art is a natural way to express themselves and create various pieces, from music to painting; limiting their creativeness is ineffective and violent. Children are people too, and should not be educated and managed forcefully; the decision to have children is their parents’ business, and intrusion into it is also violence. While political virtues described in Republic are indeed helpful for modern political leaders, the scheme of Republic, described by Plato, is certainly not the best state for living.
Reference
Plato. (2022). The republic (M. B. A. Jowett, Trans.). Book Inc.