“A State arises, as I understand it, from the needs of humanity; no one is self-sufficient, but we all have many desires,” quoted the philosopher Plato. Creating a perfect society has been a topic of discussion since the dawn of time. Many philosophers, leaders, and government officials felt that they had ideas that could create a perfect environment for all. When creating a perfect society, the greater good of all citizens must be considered. The Athenian philosopher Plato created a plan for society that he believed would benefit everyone. In 375 BCE, Plato's Socratic dialogue entitled "The Republic" was presented as a concept of what an ideal society is. Plato's Republic is divided into different books discussing its various concepts and using many allegories, metaphors and examples to ensure they are understood. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Plato's concept of creating an ideal state included three distinct social classes, the three parts of the soul, and harmony. The three social classes that Plato speaks of in his Republic are guardians, helpers and producers. He believes that a harmonious society will occur once these three classes do what they need to do and mind their own business. The guardians are responsible for ruling the city and are also known as philosopher kings. Since they have the most loyalty, intelligence, strength, and courage, Plato believes that leading and making decisions should be their responsibility. He firmly believes that without philosophers who rule as kings, there will never be a perfect society. This class will only breed within its group to keep its strong genes within the Guardians. They will receive specific education and benefit from more opportunities than other classes. The auxiliaries would be the military, composed of warriors supposed to defend the city from attacks and invasions. They would also be responsible for ensuring that the rest of the city followed the rules set by the guardians. Producers constitute the lowest social class, but also the most important. Members of this class work in a variety of professions, with the exception of warriors and rulers. They have no say in legal or political matters. Their main goal is to produce things that society needs. According to Plato, the three parts of a person's soul coincide with the three social classes of society. The three parts of the soul include the rational, the spirited, and the appetitive. The rational is the philosophical and truth-seeking part of the soul. Plato associates this part of the soul with justice. A righteous individual would be strongly influenced by his logic. Guardians are believed to possess logic, and Plato believes this makes them most qualified to rule. The fiery one is the part of the soul, it is the part that desires honor. Plato believes that the auxiliaries best fulfill this role, which is why they must enforce the laws and protect their people. The final part of the soul is appetite, which is a combination of lust and desires of humans. These lusts include romance but mainly focus on finances. It is believed that this part of the soul belongs to the producers. When everyone accepts their role in society, the ideal state will be formed. The Allegory of the Cave is a story told in The Republic. Socrates speaks to Plato's brother about the relationship between people,reality and philosophers. He uses a metaphor to convey his message. The story involves three people held prisoner in a cave. The only thing they can see are the shadows of the people outside on a dark wall of the cave, due to the fire behind them. The prisoners begin to see this as their true reality. When some prisoners could guess which shadow would appear, they were considered the smartest of the group. When a prisoner escapes and leaves the cave, he realizes that everything he knew inside the cave was a lie. He discovers the true reality. He wants to share this reality with the others, so he returns to the cave and lets them know what he discovered. The other prisoners did not believe him and threatened to harm him if he tried to free them. They accepted this cave as their reality, and the escaped prisoner could not change his way of thinking. In this story, the escaped prisoner was a representation of the world's philosophers. The cave represents the reality people are accustomed to and the shadows represent what they think they know. The external world is seen by philosophers and is considered the true reality. Plato believed that philosophers questioned ideas that people readily accepted. When people are challenged or unfamiliar with an idea, they tend to reject and ridicule it. People questioning reality and the meaning of existence is a recurring thing. In the film Matrix, similar themes are found in the life of the main character Neo and the freed prisoner in the Allegory of the Cave. In The Matrix, machines have taken over the world and created a false reality for people. Neo is forced to accept the truth of reality and question what he saw as his existence. Neo is very similar to the freed prisoner in that the prisoner had to accept the reality he saw when he was finally freed from the cave. Their senses help them realize that they simply need to experiment, be open-minded, and gain new knowledge to discover true reality. Forgetting what you once knew and accepting a new reality can be difficult, but it was done by Neo in The Matrix and the freed prisoner in The Allegory of The Cave. Neo and the Prisoner were able to escape the false reality and realized that the world was very different from what they thought. The only difference from the stories would be that Neo would get help from Morpheus, while the Prisoner would figure things out on his own. There's also nothing stopping the prisoner from living a free life after discovering reality, but Neo faces many obstacles and is hunted by the agents who help control The Matrix. All of Plato's allegories are used to teach a lesson and have been seen in various ways over the centuries. The allegory of the Ship of State is another metaphorical story written by Plato to discuss issues related to political parties and democracy. In this allegory, there is a man who owns the ship and he is the strongest. Although he is the strongest, he is partially deaf, cannot see well, and does not have enough knowledge to navigate. On the boat, in addition to the owner, there is the real navigator, the crew and the crew chief. The crew argues and tries to persuade the shipowner and others why they should sail on the ship. The crew chief uses manipulation and other vindictive means to subdue the shipowner. He appeals to the crew because they think he has good leadership skills and possesses the abilities.