Plato and the Republic

Plato was born into a wealthy Athenian family around 429

BC.

So, he grew up during the Peloponnesian War (431 – 404

BC).

Around the age of 20, Plato joined the circle of Socrates.

Socrates did not conduct his philosophical inquiries

through writing...

... but through engaging in dialogues with prominent Athenians, often in public

places.

We can imagine Plato watching on and sometimes

participating in these conversations.

In 404, when Athens was finally forced to surrender,

a Spartan sponsored tyranny, known as the Rule of Thirty, was installed in

Athens.

The tyranny was extremely vicious and lasted less than

a year.

Plato’s uncle and cousin were key players in the

Rule of Thirty.

It may have been his family’s involvement in this

unhappy period that led Plato to finally shun politics

and pursue the philosophical life.

In 399, Socrates was tried and sentenced to death (by drinking

hemlock) for impiety and for corrupting the youth.

After this, Plato spent around a decade travelling the

Mediterranean.

Around 388 BC, Plato returned to Athens and established a school

called the Academy.

Plato wrote 20 books before his death in 347.

Almost all his books take the form of dialogues led by Socrates (who, remember,

did not write anything himself).

To what extent Plato is faithfully representing

Socrates...

... and to what extent he is using Socrates as a

character through which he advances his own views,

... is difficult to discern and a matter of debate.

It is believed to vary from book to book and over

periods of Plato’s writing.

Plato’s Republic was written about 375 BC.

The title is a poor Latin translation (res publica > things + public = public

affairs) of the Greek word politaea which meant ‘ideal state’ (Phelan: 2005, 148).

In the Republic, Plato envisages a utopia or

perfect society.

The central element of this society is that it is ruled by

philosophers.

He takes a dim view of democracy in which the

unwise and untutored are accorded as much power as

those who are steeped in knowledge and who

deliberate in a rational fashion.

Plato advances numerous arguments for his ideal

state but one is important to bear in mind.

Plato thinks ruling is a specialised skill no less

than, say, making shoes or building a ship.

Therefore, he thinks it no more sensible to have

unskilled non-specialists ruling than making ships or

shoes.

The results in all cases will be similarly shoddy.

It is somewhat surprising that Athens’ most famous

thinker, Plato, is so negative about Athens’ most famous invention,

democracy.

The goal of this lesson is to understand Plato’s critique of democracy in theory. In

subsequent lessons, we will look at some historical

examples that might explain Plato’s views.