Blog Post #2

I love all aspects of society, but there was one thing that we discussed in class that really piqued my interest. I love government and politics, as well as philosophy. My two interests merged with Plato’s ideal society. This is so fascinating, and I am still trying to make sense of it. First of all, Plato loved the number three. This seemingly trivial statement is extremely important. Even in modern day society, power is distributed into triads. Obviously the most direct correlation would the three branches of the United States Government, but in America we also split our primary education into three: elementary, middle, and high. Plato has three different classes, which seems quite stable. Beginning with the upper class of Plato’s city are the philosopher kings, or the rulers. There are a few key aspects of the ruling class, they are all philosophers, they do not have family ties, and they cannot own material possessions. The fact that they are philosophers suggests that the rulers have some baseline level of intelligence, which is needed in order to run any kind of society. The fact that the rulers have no family ties goes hand in hand with the fact that they cannot own material possessions. These two stipulations prevent corruption or favoritism/nepotism. With these limitations, Plato ensures that the rulers will act in the interest of their country, and that they will not act in their own self-interest. Next, we move on to the soldiers. Obviously, every society needs some form of police and protection, and it is good to have limitations on them, which is exactly what Plato organized. Plato prevented the soldiers from having family ties, which prevents favoritism, and promotes equal protection under the law. Plato also allowed the soldiers to have some material possessions, to compensate for the fact that they do not have as much power as the rulers. The workers, as the lower class, run the city. These people are allowed to have material possessions, as there would be many rebellions if they could not possess things. Overall, I think this is a good way to rule, and I especially subscribe to the ideology that the rulers should not have material possessions, or at least not while they are in power. The one complaint I have is that people should not be born into their class. The best of the best, no matter where they were born, should be able to be a philosopher king.