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What Is Plato's Unjust Soul

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aligns with reason and resists the desires of the appetite. It is in this part of the soul where the courage to be good is found. In the unjust soul, the spirit ignores reason and instead aligns with the appetitive desires, manifesting as the demand for the pleasures of the body. Plato asserts that the wise and just soul allows reason to govern the other parts, while the unwise and unjust soul allows conflict between the parts.12 Just as there is the appetitive part of the soul—the largest part of the soul—there is the productive class, or the workers, who have souls of bronze and account for the largest part of the population.13 This class includes the general population of laborers, plumbers, masons, carpenters, merchants, and farmers. Justice and moderation are found within these individuals.14 These professions correspond to the ‘appetite’ part of the soul. The protective class includes the warriors or guardians, and Plato considers them to have souls made of silver. They are strong, brave, and comprise of the ‘spirit’ part of the soul.15 Courage lies within the auxiliaries. And then there is the governing …show more content…

Failure during the Peloponnesian War caused Greeks to question democracy and traditional Greek values. Plato disagreed with the way the state was run, especially after Athens’ loss at war. He discusses the meaning of justice and outlines how the ideal state should be governed in The Republic. He believes that the ideal state should be governed by a class of guardian rulers, who were trained as philosopher-kings. These rulers are the only members of society who could understand the Form of the Good and would be able to rule justly and logically. The rest of society would be made up of the class of warriors and the class of producers. With each member of society performing his own duty according to his class, and with rulers embracing the true Forms, peace and cooperation would be

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