Topic > An analysis of the morality of a community in the Republic, a book by Plato

Plato's Republic seeks morality, justice, and the just state by raising moral questions and examining them from different angles through educational conversations. Socrates argued that the ideal way to teach philosophy is to have a one-on-one conversation, so that questions can be raised and discussed. The book is written in Socratic dialogue, which makes the reader participate in the conversation and contributes to understanding the topics. This essay will examine a passage from Book IV, which raises the question of what the morality of the community is. In doing so, the essay will also demonstrate the community's definition of immorality. Socrates discovered the parallel of the three parts of the soul with the three classes of the city through rational investigation, which helps to logically conclude that morality makes the community moral. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayThe passage is taken from Book IV, in which Socrates discusses the importance of the three main classes of the city and education. The bulk of civil society belongs to the business class, where individuals can have ownership and economic interests while doing their work. Even if their ambition to accumulate wealth is acceptable, and they ideally have the requisite virtue of self-discipline, this requires the need for guardians, who must avoid social degeneration due to unbalanced possession of material goods. Philosophical auxiliaries and rulers belong to the class of guardians. They are the managers of the company and their first main difference from the workers lies in education. The education of Plato's Kallipolis sorts its citizens into the most suitable class. Education up to the age of 18 is compulsory, individuals who leave school at this age become workers. People who wish to stay in school longer take physical and military education and become auxiliaries. Auxiliaries must possess the virtue of courage to be able to fight enemies and protect their people. People who stay longer in studies and dedicate themselves to their studies have the best aptitude for philosophical knowledge and have the wisdom to become the philosopher ruler of the city at the age of 50. Philosophical rulers are the city's elite class, they have the acquired wisdom to know what is best for the city and its citizens. Despite belonging to the elite class, the guardians cannot own property or possessions, avoiding the temptation to think about personal interest and placing the demos at a higher level than them. Plato's wish is for guardians to live on public property where everything is shared, so that there is no room for personal fulfillment. The guardians' purpose is the care of the city and their goal is the happiness of the demos. By realizing their goals, it allows them to live in a happy and orderly community, so that the guardians are happy too. The reasoning is convincing as the balance of classes allows the city to function at its best and today's modern world also understands the attitude of the guardian class when it comes to charity workers. However, the idea that contemporary politicians live on public property without thinking about personal interests in any way seems to be a completely utopian assumption. While finding the three qualities; wisdom, courage and self-discipline are essential, the community needs a principle that allows the three qualities of the city to safely flourish and this missing goodness is morality. Community morality is when all three classes and each individual perform theown work for which he is most qualified without intruding on the roles of others. This suggests that all parts of the demos are equally important, there needs to be a balance between classes to make society complex. According to the educational system of classes and the natural aptitudes of individuals, which was discussed earlier in the essay, every citizen has the only job relevant to his life. community for which he is best equipped. This allows the demos to work effectively, as it seems that all tasks are solved in the best possible way. To better understand what morality is, it is important to discover its opposite. Immorality is "when someone commits the worst crimes against their community." The worst crime is when the individual or class intrudes on the work of another person or class. For example, imagining someone who works in the business class but has accumulated a huge amount of money so that he believes he has the necessary qualities to enter the ruling class and participate in legislatures would be a crime against the community. neither the working class nor the auxiliaries have the wisdom to decide what is best for the city and how it can continue to prosper. Any interference with the work of other classes would damage the city, destroy the balance, and could cause civil war. In Plato's strictly regulated Kallipolis the argument of morality appears to be the most effective and valid contribution to the goodness of the community. In the contemporary analysis of the topic, people are actually committing the worst crimes against their countries. The modern government uses the words "freedom" and "democracy" to soften regulations in the so-called classes. This allows people to have the ability to trade tools and status and do more jobs than other classes at the same time, not just the only one their nature is better equipped for it. Taking a relevant example of the current US presidential elections, it seems that people from the business class can enter the ruling class and occupy the highest position in governance. Comparing Plato's politics with today's politics is impossible, given the thousands of years of difference and the modernized world, but understanding the history of political thought and learning about classical thought could be the key to reducing wars and inequality today . The parallel that reinforces the reasoning of the moral community is constituted by the three elements of the soul that keep the individual in balance. In Book IV, Plato's famous theory of the tripartite soul consists of appetites, spirit, and wisdom and states that justice is the rational harmony of these three elements. Appetite is the element of the soul that provides drive and motivation and parallels the business class in that it requires self-discipline. Reason and spirit must keep appetites under control, just as the guardian class avoids the social degeneration of the entrepreneurial class. The spirit provides the individual with the strength to move forward and requires the attribute of strength and courage, like the attribute of the auxiliaries. Reason requires wisdom and is the parallel to rulers. But reason is the only part of the soul that can be obtained with education, the other two elements are born with the person. The reasoning seems transferable to the state since people always have a general conflict in the soul that requires the three elements to operate effectively; just as the community requires balance between classes and demands that individuals carry out their own work for the effective and moral functioning of the community. Examining how the passage contributes to the overall thesis of the Republic, it can be said that by defining morality and immorality.