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Essay / An analysis of the morality of a community in the Republic, a book by Plato
Plato's Republic seeks morality, justice, and the just state while raising moral questions and examining them from different perspectives through educational conversations. Socrates argued that the ideal way to teach philosophy was to have a one-on-one conversation, so that questions could be raised and discussed. The book is written in Socratic dialogue, which makes the reader participate in the conversation and contributes to the understanding of the arguments. This essay will examine a passage from Book IV, in which a question was raised about what the morality of the community is. In doing so, the essay will also demonstrate the community's definition of immorality. Socrates discovered the parallel between the three parts of the soul and the three classes of the city through rational inquiry, which contributes to the logical conclusion that morality makes the community a moral community. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayThe passage is taken from Book IV, in which Socrates discusses the importance of the three main classes of the city and the education. The mass of civil society belongs to the business class, where individuals can have property and economic interests while doing their jobs. Even if their ambition to accumulate wealth is acceptable and they ideally possess the required virtue of self-discipline, this calls for the need for guardians, who must avoid social degeneration due to unbalanced possession of material goods. Auxiliaries and philosophical leaders belong to the guardian class. They are the leaders of the company and their first major difference from the workers lies in education. The education of Plato's Kallipolis places its citizens in the most appropriate class. Education is compulsory until age 18; individuals who leave school at this age become workers. People who want to stay in school longer take physical and military education and become auxiliaries. Auxiliaries must possess the virtue of courage to be able to fight enemies and protect their own people. The people who stay in education the longest and dedicate themselves to their studies have the best aptitude for philosophical knowledge and have the wisdom to become the ruling philosopher of the city by the age of 50. Philosopher leaders are the elite class of the city, they have the acquired wisdom to know what is best for the city and the citizens. Although belonging to the elite class, guardians cannot have property or possessions, thus avoiding the temptation to think of their self-interest and place demos at a higher level than themselves. Plato's wish is that the guardians live on public properties where everything is shared, so that there is no room for personal development. The goal of the guardians is to take care of the city and their goal is the happiness of the demos. By achieving their goals, it allows them to live in a happy and orderly community, so that the guardians are happy too. The reasoning is compelling in that class balance allows the city to function at its best and today's modern world also includes the attitude of the caretaker class when it comes to charity workers. However, the idea that contemporary politicians live on public property without thinking in any way about their personal interests seems to be a rather utopian hypothesis. Although they find the three qualities: ; wisdom, courage and self-discipline areessentials, the community needs a principle that allows the three qualities of the city to flourish safely and that missing type of goodness is morality. The morality of the community is one where all three classes and each individual does his own work for which he is best qualified without encroaching on the roles of others. This suggests that all parts of the demos are equally important, there must be a balance between classes to make society complex. According to the educational system of classes and the natural aptitudes of individuals, mentioned previously in the essay, each citizen has a job corresponding to his profession. community for which it is best equipped. This allows the demos to run efficiently, as it appears that all tasks are taken care of in the best possible way. To better understand what morality is, it is important to discover its contradictions. Immorality is “when someone commits the worst crimes against their own community.” The worst crime is when one individual or class interferes in the work of another person or class. For example, imagining someone who works in the business class but has accumulated a huge amount of money and therefore believes he has the qualifications to enter the ruling class and participate in the legislature, that would be a crime against the community . neither the working class nor the auxiliaries have the wisdom to decide what is best for the city and how it can continue to prosper. Any interference with the jobs of other classes would harm the city, destroy the balance, and could cause civil wars. In Plato's strictly regulated Kallipolis, the argument from morality emerges as the most effective and valuable contribution to the goodness of the community. In the contemporary analysis of this argument, it is indeed the people who commit the worst crimes against their country. The modern government uses the words “freedom” and “democracy” to relax regulations in the so-called classes. This allows people to have the opportunity to exchange tools and statuses and simultaneously perform more tasks from other classes, not just the one one. their nature is best equipped for this. Taking a relevant example from the current US presidential elections, it appears that people from the economic class can enter the ruling class and occupy the highest positions in governance. Comparing Plato's politics with today's politics is impossible, given the thousands of years of difference and the modernized world, but understanding the history of political thought and knowing classical thought could be the key to reducing wars and inequalities today. the moral community is made up of the three elements of the soul which maintain the balance of the individual. In Book IV, Plato's famous theory of the tripartite soul consists of the appetites, mind and wisdom and he states that justice is the rational harmony of these three elements. Appetite is the element of the soul that gives drive and motivation and is a parallel to the business class because it requires self-discipline. Reason and spirit must control appetites, so that the guardian class avoids the social degeneration of the business class. Spirit provides the individual with the strength to continue and requires the attribute of strength and courage, like personal spirit. attribute of auxiliaries. Reason requires wisdom and this is the parallel with leaders. However, reason is the only part of the soul that can be obtained through education, the other two elements are born with the person. The reasoning seems transferable to the state, because people always have a.