Plato - The Republic

In the movie ‘My big fat Greek wedding’, Gus Portokalos rightly says, “When my people were writing philosophy,your people were still swinging from trees”. Penned down around approximately 350 B.C, the thought process exuding from this book is astonishing. Before I read this book I might have thought that ideas regarding justice, morality, society, education, role of women and all these perks of the modern civilization were brought forward and spread only by the Religions. Apparently not!

In the beginning of the book, Glaucon puts forward the main argument which later was known as the Social Contract theory,“We are only moral because it pays us or we have to be, and that given the chance we should all behave extremely badly” .

From there the reader begins a journey comprising of emphatic dialogues. How Socrates never gives his views and how through dialectic goes on to chart out a plan for a perfect society is simply amusing to read. No lectures, only conversation. One might say that the whole thing borders close to idealism but the single fact that in the book they professed that this kind of society might not exist in this world, in my view, acquits them from being idealists.

After all what could be the harm in following an ideal state? We may never reach it but at least we would be satisfied that we strived for the best. We may never make it to the top but even if we managed to go half the way, it would be worth it. When you reach for the stars you may never reach them but you don’t return with a handful of mud either.

There was a passage about how people are born with gold, silver or bronze inside. At first it smelled of inequality but the very next statement laid my apprehension to rest. It tells that if a bronze child is born to gold parents, he or she should be placed with all the other bronze people in the society, performing the same functions as they do. In short the son of a landlord isn’t destined to become the member of the national assembly. Will Durant puts it more precisely in his book, Story of Philosophy,

“If a woman shows herself capable of political administration let her rule, if a man shows himself to be capable only off washing dishes, let him fulfill the function to which providence has assigned him.”

Of course hints of selective breeding and infanticide are something which might never materialize in this world. Yes, we might go as far as genetically enhancing humans but I guess that is the furthest we’ll go. It is just a guess though.

Education for all is certainly a good enough idea and especially an education which is aimed not to put into mind, knowledge that was not there before but to turn the mind’s eye to the light so that it can see for itself. This could be the best possible filtration system a society could employ. The sieve should be merit, not wealth.

“There is something low and mean about plundering a corpse, a kind of feminine mindedness, treating the body as an enemy when fighting spirit which fought in it has flown away”. It wasn’t till the 19th century that we thought of Geneva Conventions. Being on the top of the world and still thinking that Greeks should treat the corpses of Barbarians just like they would treat a corpse of a Greek is something remarkable. It shows that morality can’t be just the fear of police then.

Then there is the very interesting criticism of democracy while Plato goes on to describe an Ideal State. Is democracy the universal remedy? Perhaps! It is the most attractive and versatile but isn’t it just a trendy name given to mob rule, a clash of classes, conflict of rich and poor, leading to a tyrant’s rise as the popular champion.

There is certainly much more to this masterpiece than just what you have read up here. A fulfilling and enriching experience from start to finish.