Plato’s Theory of Ideas and Ideal State
Plato’s Theory of Ideas
As a result of conflicting views between Heraclitus and Parmenides, and based on the critique of Socrates towards the cultural relativism of the Sophists, Plato formulated his theory of two worlds, trying to give an intermediate response to the discussion of the two pre-Socratics. He posits that there are two worlds: the Ideal (that of reason: timeless, unique, continuous, stationary), consisting of Ideas, and the Sensible (the senses: changing material), consisting of imperfect copies of Ideas shaped by the Demiurge (a divine being invented by Plato).
Moreover, Plato established a hierarchy of ideas, with values that are better the further away they are from the world of sense. Among them, he highlights the three that crown the pyramid that he would use to organize all: Justice, Beauty, and above all, the Good. The Good is about perfection, the quintessential idea of the ideal world (represented by the Sun in the sensible world). It is the last point reached, which encompasses the rest. Immediately below, at a second level, and understood as the meanings of the time, are Justice (fairness, which has to do with political balance), and Beauty (the beautiful, which has to do with morality).
Plato’s Political Philosophy
To enter the political agenda, with the goal of building a stable city in which each person works on what they do best to serve others, Plato provides an analogy with the model used in anthropology: social classes divided into three groups (and souls), influenced by Sophistic thinking:
- Rulers (rational soul): This is the essential class, which is not based on nobility of blood (as was thought at first, before witnessing the disaster of the 30 leaders of Athens to Sparta), but on the nobility of knowledge. The rulers do not have private property and are maintained by the city.
- Guardians (irascible soul): Their objective is to defend the city from outside and inside. They also have no private property, and those who value strength and also have an interest in knowledge elect their rulers.
- Producers (concupiscible soul): This class is divided into two sections: “Production” and “Distribution”. Its function is to nurture the city with property. What motivates them to continue producing is that they do have private property, and their goal is individual survival.
In addition, the state devised by Plato is also responsible for education (education is the first collective): In principle, all children are educated equally, and if a child is particularly interested in intellectual activities, they are focused towards a possible ruling position. If the child wants to win in games, they are directed to a possible guardian role, and if they like crafts, to a future producer role.
It is worth mentioning that this idea also includes women at work. This was undoubtedly a revolutionary thought for the time, and it would take many centuries to be realized.
Plato believed that any other political organization would not work, and identified a list of other types of organizations, demonstrating how they are doomed to be born and die: Starting from an aristocracy in which the judges ruled, their descendants would seek to achieve the prestige of their parents (domain of the irascible soul) through military adventures (timocracy). They acquired wealth in these adventures (concupiscible realm of the soul) and made an effort to increase it too much (oligarchy). Citizenship is divided into two classes: rich and poor. The poor would gradually become less wealthy until the large number of poor would rise up and take power (democracy). In this system, individual interest would be important, and there would be an excess of freedom. The people, weary of the risk of that situation, would trust a man with power (tyranny). This man would decide according to their whims and their personal interest, keeping the city in constant motion so that it did not have time to plot against him. Finally, men would rise up again and establish the aristocracy. The cycle would begin again.