The
goal of the conversation between Socrates and the others in the republic was to
come up with an imaginary, ideal city where all involved would show a sense of brother
ship and an overall vision of peace and luxury to others that came to see the
city. Throughout the reading man conundrums rear their heads to the characters.
It is decided that the people can’t live as human nature would suggest, but
they would have to live under rules that fool them into thinking everything is
good, luxurious, and at peace. In order to create this sense of peace, luxury,
and cohesion of all people in the city Socrates says that the city leaders must
be told a lie. This idea is formed from the base that there will be 3 distinct
classes; the gold class, guardians, will govern the people, the silver class,
the people who will produce luxury for the city, and the bronze class that will
produce the bare necessities for the city. The whole purpose of the lie was to
get the city to adhere into one functioning unit.
The
lie addresses many topics. It deals with the feeling of being stuck as you are.
It speaks to the fact that even though the people are assigned to certain
classes based on what they do, will be able to have children that move to
another class and won’t be stuck with the same job as their father. This is
saying that the offspring of guardian parents might not end up as guardians
themselves. The children will do the job that is appropriate to them. This is
the same with children of other parents. They will do as their talents
illustrate. Another part of the lie
deals with the guardians and keeping them civil and civic minded. Socrates said
to prohibit the guardians getting wealth so that they will exist just to serve
the people. He isn’t making the desire for wealth to disappear he is just
making the ability of it to happen disappear. He wants the guardians not to be
people who are getting more for themselves or getting things that they desire.
He is making a rule that makes them act like people that have no desires. Since
the only possessions that they have are the ones that they share in common.
Adamantus says that the guardians won’t like this. People won’t want to live in
a city where the only things they have are the things that they have in common. Especially in a city where they are
protecting people with wealth. It won’t make them happy. Socrates in answering adamantus shifts his
view. He says that when we founded this city it was not our object to make one
class of people less happy than others; the object was to make the city as a
whole happy. He later discusses their role and the role of families. Every
person has a certain nature that is equipped for one certain job. Socrates
tries to get away from this idea because how classes are divided. It’s like
some people are trained to think and some are just trained to work. Women make
this a problem. On the one hand nature seems to have distinguished women from
men. Women are like specialized labor classes. Men have different jobs, but
women are child bearers and homemakers but they can do jobs also. Socrates says
that the division of labor thought about before wasn’t well thought out.
Different natures shouldn’t do the same jobs the whole problem with the city is
getting it to go together. Referring to what the professor says, maybe the city
was already together but they didn’t see it.
The case of
women displays an point of this. The women will be homemakers and mothers.
Women who do all the different jobs those men do now, it turns out, that every
one of these differences is a similarity to men but they are all still women.
They are mothers because it is what they do. Instead of the way people were
divided like different types before, now they are looked at as a whole group
with different talents. Socrates then goes on to describe the system of child
rearing. The breeding will be decided upon by experts in the city. The children
will never know who their family is. Everyone in the city should feel as if
they are connected like family to everyone in the city. So they will call
another person brother or son just because they don’t know. The reason for this
is to create cohesion. This exposes another problem. It would be solidarity
that is imposed upon the people. The idea that no one is ever going to know who
their relatives are can create cohesion. It brings out a kind of good feeling
that is naturally inside us towards others
Socrates has
kind of discovered the idea of brotherhood. In order for there to be
brotherhood everyone has to think that everyone was their brother and the fact
that classes are organized for the good of everyone. The point of the lie wasn’t bad. It’s a lot
like the way our government operates today. They do what they feel is best for
the whole of society, but it doesn’t address us as individuals. A good
illustration of this is the problems surrounding Four Loko. I honestly think
the drink is disgusting, but I don’t believe that its best for the whole of
society to take that choice away. Lying
to the people and saying its dangerous is a lie. The ingredients of the drink
have been consumed safely apart and together. How long have people been
drinking coffee after a long night at the bar? How many people have ended up in
the hospital from drinking too much alcohol by itself?
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