Plato
April 5th 2006 12:17
It’s a name we’ve all heard at one stage or another, but hardly anyone knows what he was on about. (and trust me, he goes on about a lot.) This is a very brief summary of his book ‘The Republic.’
What he talks about:
The central theme in Plato’s work is coming up with the ideal society. He analyses the different systems of government like democracy and tyranny and provides us with his own view. In his view the ideal society is one where all property is shared and where a ‘guardian class’ rules. The Guardian class is basically a small elite picked on a biological basis. Guardians would be given extensive training in order to ensure that would be more than qualified to rule.
The problems with this view:
Well basically it doesn’t fit in with democracy, today we believe that rulers should be elected universally where Plato suggests that they should be picked on merit. (his argument is almost contradictory here-the guardians are the most capable but they’re picked at birth. How can you judge people when they’re babies?)
Why it was so revolutionary?
Plato was the first person to assume that the ideal government could be discovered through analysis and logic as opposed to fear ad blind faith.
He was also the first person to bring forward the concept of rigorous adult education-although he did limit it to the Guardian class.
He recognises the rights of women-they can be Guardians too, which is huge considering his context.
Plato like questions to think about:
Does eliminating personal property take away the troubles of society?
Should a ruling class be elected or be picked based on merit?
the info for this blog was taken from the book: Great Political Thinkers by William Ebenstein.
What he talks about:
The central theme in Plato’s work is coming up with the ideal society. He analyses the different systems of government like democracy and tyranny and provides us with his own view. In his view the ideal society is one where all property is shared and where a ‘guardian class’ rules. The Guardian class is basically a small elite picked on a biological basis. Guardians would be given extensive training in order to ensure that would be more than qualified to rule.
The problems with this view:
Well basically it doesn’t fit in with democracy, today we believe that rulers should be elected universally where Plato suggests that they should be picked on merit. (his argument is almost contradictory here-the guardians are the most capable but they’re picked at birth. How can you judge people when they’re babies?)
Why it was so revolutionary?
Plato was the first person to assume that the ideal government could be discovered through analysis and logic as opposed to fear ad blind faith.
He was also the first person to bring forward the concept of rigorous adult education-although he did limit it to the Guardian class.
He recognises the rights of women-they can be Guardians too, which is huge considering his context.
Plato like questions to think about:
Does eliminating personal property take away the troubles of society?
Should a ruling class be elected or be picked based on merit?
the info for this blog was taken from the book: Great Political Thinkers by William Ebenstein.
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David Jobling
Comment by Cibbuano
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That whole Guardian class is pretty elitist, though. Sounds like that only works on paper.
Comment by amy
Nice blog - cheat's guide to high culture - comes in very useful for those of us who like to BS about books etc we've never read!
Will definitely be back. Best of luck!
Comment by AdamB
An elected ruler doesn't always work. Sometimes ignorance can lead to a government that doesn't achieve the best results for the people. This can be caused especially when many people don't care about the political process and therefore vote based on very little information.
Still, there are obvious and major problems with a selected elite.
Adam
Comment by Sara
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