Compare Plato's View Of Totalitarianism

There has been a lot of debate on whether Plato is a totalitarian or not, a debate namely advanced by Karl Popper. In Plato’s «Republic», through Socrates’ demonstration that justice is not a convention and is not in the interest of the stronger, Plato draws the picture of an ideal state. I believe that Plato is a totalitarian but not according to the modern vision of totalitarianism. I will analyse Plato’s «Republic» through his criticism of democracy making him authoritarian, then I will explore the idea of freedom in Plato’s ideal state and finally will look at the control that Plato believes should be instaured in the state.

I should firstly define what I think is the modern view of totalitarianism. According to Anne Applebaum, a totalitarian

However, I will go further by saying that modern totalitarianism is where the population suffers the hardships of subjection to the rulers and must approve all the features of the regime.

Before analysing the specific features of Plato’s ideal state, we should first start looking at the other side of the spectrum : his view of democracy. Plato is clearly against democracy because he does not believe in equality of men and sees democracy as assuming the equality of all the men in the society. He affirms: “it’s an agreeable, anarchic form of society, with plenty of variety, which treats all men as equal, whether they are equal or not”. This demonstrates that he does not adhere to the principles of democracy and hence is against it, while still acknowledging that he likes the ideal of it. Indeed, Plato believes in the existence of people that have reason ruling them giving them wisdom who contrast to the rest of population that either have their desires ruling them or honour. Those superior beings are the philosophers and Plato sees them as primordial to a civilization. Plato’s preference in inequality is portrayed in the analogy of the ship

At first glance, Plato’s myth of the metals, which is a lie told to the inhabitants of the ideal state telling them that they are born with either bronze, silver or gold, is clearly a trait of a totalitarian regime. Indeed, people, depending on the metal dominating their being, will rejoin a class, either the productive class, the auxiliaries class or the rulers class. This lie is certainly there to impose a structure on the population and gives no other alternatives or freedom of choice to them. This linked to Orwell’s definition of a totalitarian regime, Plato’s state qualifies to be called totalitarian. Consequently, the population has no other choice than accepting the ruling of the philosophers, imposed through manipulation. Plato appears as a totalitarian when we present the situation as such. Besides, this imposed collectivism, shown through the division of classes, is a feature of a totalitarian regime. As Karl Popper said, collectivism prevails in Plato’s ideal city which clearly sets it in a sort of totalitarian regime. However, I don’t consider the Kallipollis as fully totalitarian. Firstly, Plato clearly affirms that the population will accept the system and their belonging to one class, not simply because of the myth of the metals but also because they consider having achieved their maximum potential and satisfy their appetitives