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Ashley Rutter 02/28/2010 Poli 370-001 2. Plato believed that people were basically equal in talent and value, and, if educated properly, were capable of ruling themselves. In this sense, Plato wanted to maximize peoples freedom (after a brief dictatorship under which people would be reeducated); individual freedom leads to, and is compatible with, justice. Plato thought that governments ultimately would become unnecessary and wither away. Platos aim is not to grant freedoms but to hold absolute totalitarian rule over his citys citizens and convince them that it is for their own good and for the good of the city. Plato was an elitist who felt that even with the best education, leadership, and civic life possible, people, due to their nature, will work against their own interests and succumb to their unjust desires. He felt that government and rulers especially would always be needed in order to maintain moderation within the city but would only succeed only if they maintained the strict order that he has laid out for them in The Republic. Plato, in his quest to find the most just city, defines separate and unequal classes: the guardians, auxiliaries, and the money makers. Plato believed that the guardian class was the best class to rule based on the hierarchy of control within their souls (412c, 415a The Republic). He uses the idea that god is the one that truly has control over this and displays who belong to which classes by putting metal into their souls The ruling class has gold within their souls, the auxiliaries have silver and the money makers or working class have iron and bronze (415a The Republic). God plays this part frequently in Platos city. The citizens are lead to believe that if

they are to encounter unfortunate events or situations, it is the cause of the gods and not the rulers themselves (460 a, The Republic). This is a way for the rulers to keep the masses in line. If they dont blame the rulers for the bad situations that they find themselves in, there is no need for the citizens to ever revolt against the rulers. The idea of telling the citizens that god has put metal in their souls is also a way to illustrate to the masses what their worth is by corresponding the worth of the metal. Plato states that once someone has become a ruler, he will be celebrated in both life and death (414a The Republic) and that those who are ruled are of a lesser quality than those who rule (431d The Republic). The rulers are not to have any possessions or pension above and beyond what is needed to survive (416d-417b The Republic). By having complete control over education and social norms, Plato has been able to perpetuate the idea to the rulers that wisdom and being a functioning member of society is more important that earthly possessions. Since the rulers have been taught to be ruled themselves by reason and not desire, this is not a punishment but more of an honor and a representation to others what their place in society is. The auxiliaries which fall below the guardians are viewed as more of a middle ground between the auxiliaries and the working class. Their souls are ruled by their bravery and make up the citys army. The lowest class is that which consists of the money-makers. While they serve their function in the society, they are ruled by desire and therefore looked down upon in the city. They are allowed to own possessions and are seen as inferior because they place more value on these possessions than moderation or knowledge. Out of the three classes, the working class is the only class that is not ruled by a virtue upon which the city as founded (427e The Republic). Education was a fundamental part of Platos ideal city. Plato believed that education as more of a means to an end to provide the city with well-rounded guardians (423e The Republic).

It is by intense control over what is learned through education, poetry, music, and even the stories that the citizens are told as children that they city in doctrines the youth and shapes the will to obey the rulers. The education was specified for each class. The rulers education was more thorough and well rounded than the working classes. They are put through many tests through out their lives to determine whether or not they will be a good ruler or if they will falter. It is through the education that Plato is able to shape what type of citizens the city will contain by demonstrating what is acceptable and tolerated and what isnt. From the citys birth onward, Plato puts forth ultimate control over the poliss citizens and in doing this restricts many of their liberties. By removing many freedoms, Plato is able to guide the citizens onto the path that he feels is most just and by setting in place these guides, he hopes they will be passed down from one generation to the next. He removes the ability to marry or have sexual relations freely and he grants one to have sex with their spouse as a reward for fulfilling their task well in their class (458d-460b The Republic). Marriages will be held in high regard and the rulers have the final say over them. Plato feels that acting on the desire to fornicate whenever and with whomever one wants will only bring the destruction of the city both by perpetuating unjust actions and the rulers will lose the ability to control the population (458e The Republic) . In order for the city to have the correct number of each class and each gender, the rulers must also be in control of when children are conceived (459e The Republic). The children are taken away from their parents in order to put the polis ahead of any family connections that would have had the ability of forming (460d, 462b The Republic) Freedom of speech is restricted for the fear that children may be influenced by the wrong ideas and thus ruin their education. The freedom of choice for ones profession is largely taken away from the individual and given to the rulers when the individuals class is chosen for him. Plato believes

that this must be done in order to keep the few in control of the masses. As long as the person is of the working class, there is more freedom to pick a profession as long as it isnt being a ruler or a part of the citys army. Freedom of religion is taken away hand-in-hand with the freedom of speech. The rulers have taken away the freedoms to speak of gods or certain stories of the gods which would not promote the rulers idea of what is just. This control of information is what enables the control of the citizens and what the city is founded on. In order to persuade the citizens of Platos ideal city to desire what is just as opposed to what would make the individual instantly gratified; Plato must control the social norms and the flow of information. If the citizens never know of anything else other than what is being taught to them, the ability of their revolt is minimal. It is the procreation aspect of the polis that Plato foretells being the citys downfall. Even being so tightly controlled as is his polis, there is room for human error in the calculation of the number of births and the quality of children conceived. The city must make do with what it has and from these children, the next generations rulers are chosen (546a-546d The Republic). This marks the change from the aristocracy to the timocracy in which honor becomes more valuable than wisdom (545b The Republic). The timocracy devolves into the oligarchy in which the citizens value money most of all (548a The Republic). According to Plato, the oligarchy will dissolve into a democracy and then a tyranny. The interesting thing to note here is how Plato suggests that the just man will deteriorate. Even with the extensively controlled education, the individual still succumbs to the social pressures placed upon him by parents. As the father figure acts like a just man, the mother desires him to act unjustly and lets the child know this. This shapes the child into becoming more of the man that the mother wanted the father figure to be (549d The Republic). In all truth, it is extremely difficult to attempt to remove the masses

tendency to desire both material items and to fit in the societal expectations. Even Plato himself states that although this is his ideal polis and could in fact be actualized, it is mean to be more of a standard up which existing cities can be measure (472b-473b The Republic). Once the strict rule of what is just becomes lax, moderation is lost within the city. With this loss, Plato saw the degeneration of the just state and just man. Its only through ultimate totalitarian control and strict class distinctions that the polis can survive in a just manner. Through this, one can see that Plato was not interested in promoting peoples individual freedoms. Plato believed that for the masses, freedoms were at odds with being just and according to Plato, it is better to be just than to be free.