Plato's Ethics and Politics: The Path to a Just State

Plato's Ethics: Virtue and Happiness

The ethics of Plato are concerned with establishing moral principles to help rebuild the political and social order, while also helping individuals live well and be happy.

How Should We Live to Be Happy?

We must live according to virtue. This means living according to wisdom (knowing the Ideas, the most important being the Idea of the Good, since knowing what is good leads to acting correctly), purifying the soul of the bad influences of the body, and establishing harmony between the different parts of the soul.

Where to Live to Be Happy and Virtuous?

This is only possible in the Polis—in community life. Man is a political and social being by nature. Therefore, ethics cannot be separated from politics. Plato's political theory is expounded in The Republic (Politeia). This dialogue addresses the issues of justice, laws, the structure of society, and the Philosopher King.

Plato's Political Theory: The Just State

What Should the Polis Be Like?

It must be just. For Plato, a just state does not mean social equality, because not all men are equal. Everyone is born with certain faculties to be developed and strengthened for the collective good. Thus, for the State to be just, everyone must fulfill their specific function.

Society must be divided into three social classes:

• The rulers: Dominated by the rational soul; these are the philosophers.
• Warriors or guardians: Dominated by the spirited (irascible) soul.
• Traders and producers: Dominated by the concupiscible (appetitive) soul.

Plato justifies the importance of the philosopher as ruler in the Allegory of the Cave. This allegory explains how the philosopher is the one who frees themselves from the shackles of the senses and emerges from darkness into the light of truth. It is also the philosopher who must return to the cave to help other men see things clearly.

What Is the Ideal Political Regime?

Plato argues that most existing political regimes are corrupt: Timocracy (military rule), Oligarchy (rule of the rich), Democracy (rule of the people), and Tyranny (rule of a tyrant). The only correct regime is Aristocracy (from Aristos: "The Best"), the ideal form of government. Under this system, the best ruler is the Philosopher King, and the laws of this regime help to properly regulate social duties.