Plato's Republic: Philosophy and Ideal Governance

Plato's Dialogue: The Republic

The work proposed is a dialogue entitled The Republic. This work, one of the most important dialogues of Plato, belongs to the stage of maturity of Plato. It presents basic principles of his theory of ideas; the concept of the philosopher-king plays a fundamental role. This is the only one who has been able (after hard training) to reach the world of ideas and then enlighten the rest of the citizens who are prisoners in the world of shadows and appearance. In sum, philosophers are the only ones who have the fundamentals to properly apply the principles of political harmony that must be translated into laws, because they are the only ones who can rule according to the knowledge of ideas. Therefore, they can govern according to the rules of harmony both in themselves (having a good life) and in the city.

Principles of the Well-Governed City

The Republic points out some basic principles of a well-governed city, according to the principles of harmony. The model of the political community was Sparta, which had a rigid division of social classes and was a model for Plato, compared to the political situation in Athens during the author's time. Each social class has its place and should undertake the tasks peculiar to it: rulers, warriors, and workers.

The life of the city has a predominant role over the lives of citizens, who are ordered to meet the interests of the polis. This includes establishing a form of communism that nullifies the temptations of private property and leads to a virtuous life. Also, the Platonic state attaches great importance to education, in the sense that it evaluates the various grade levels required to enter the world of ideas. Such a perspective implies a critique of the claims of the Sophists, who defended the conventional structure of the city and, especially, thought that the most useful or the strongest were the ones who could govern best.

Evolution of Political Forms

Along with this structure of the city, Plato designed a theory of the evolution and ranking of political forms. This distinction includes:

• Aristocracy: Rule by the best.
• Timocracy: Government of the warriors.
• Democracy: Rule by the people, which may lead to extreme equality and a general disregard for the laws of the state.
• Tyranny: The most degraded form of government, where one or more tyrants rule based on force alone, imposing an apparent management in a situation of anarchy.