Plato’s Ideal State: Philosopher Kings & Society
Plato’s Ideal State: Philosopher Kings
Governing the State with Philosophers: Plato proposes a government ruled by philosophers as a remedy for the political ills of his time, offering it as an alternative to other forms of government. He affirms that the ills of humanity will only be remedied when government is in the hands of philosophers, or in the hands of men who, through philosophy, have attained wisdom and virtue. This political proposal is the result of applying Socratic moral intellectualism to the field of politics. Only individuals who know what justice and goodness consist of can be just and good. Philosophy is the only knowledge that provides understanding of the essence of justice and good, indispensable for leading oneself and society correctly. A ruler who does not know the essence of justice and good can never create a just ruling system.
Arguably, the form of government that Plato proposes is aristocracy, but taking the word in its literal and original sense: the government of the best—the best in virtue and knowledge. Thus, Plato’s political theory is regarded as a theory of the elite.
The Structure of the Ideal State
According to Plato, human beings are not self-sufficient and thus need cooperation with other men to cover their basic needs and produce everything necessary for life. Only in a state where every citizen adequately fulfills their function will there be a just and harmonious state. Only in a just state can the individual achieve happiness and virtue.
A primary focus of the just state, for Plato, is to facilitate the pathway to human virtue and moral rectitude. The ideal state would be one in which this is possible. For these objectives to be achieved, the state is composed of three social classes, mirroring the three parts of the soul:
- Producers: Responsible for meeting the material needs of society.
- Guardians: Responsible for the defense and security of the state.
- Rulers-Philosophers: Responsible for governing with wisdom and justice.
The temperament of each individual determines the social class to which they belong and the place they occupy in society, all in order to achieve the perfect functioning of the social machinery. Each of these classes plays its own role, one for which it is best qualified according to its nature and education, and must operate with each other in perfect harmony.
The justice of the state consists of the harmony between these three social classes, so that each perfectly plays the role that is proper to it and develops the virtue it deserves. A state is just and happy when the rulers are truly wise, the guardians are brave, and the producers are modest in their ambitions, with the latter two classes subject to the rulers. The just state is a reflection of the just soul, and both reflect the eternal and immutable idea of Justice itself.
Epistemological Dualism: The Simile of the Line
For Plato, the world can be represented as a line divided into two unequal segments: one representing the sensible realm and the other the intelligible realm. Each segment is further divided in the same proportion.
- The Sensible World:
- Shadows and Reflections: Perceived indirectly.
- Objects and Humans: Perceived directly.
- The Intelligible World:
- Science and Mathematics: Deals with material objects (e.g., geometric figures) but transcends them to achieve intellectual knowledge (e.g., universal theorems).
- The Realm of Ideas: Accessible only through pure reason. An idea is an archetype common to a variety of things that exist in reality and the sensible world. For example, there is a great diversity of animals, but recognizing all of them as part of the animal kingdom implies a common archetype: the *idea* of an animal.
Ideas are essential forms that exist by themselves, independently of the human spirit that perceives them. For Plato, they are what constitutes the deeper reality, the truth.