Plato Wealth And Poverty

A closer examination of the text in the Republic shows the negative consequences of wealth and poverty in its disruption of moral integrity and the internal harmony in individuals and societies. For instance, in Book 4, Socrates says, “The former [wealth] makes for luxury, idleness, and revolution; and the latter [poverty] for illiberality, bad work, and revolution as well” (Republic 422a). Plato’s position is clearly portrayed through this statement; he views justice, in the sense of morality, as far more important than the acquisition of wealth. He argues that both wealth and poverty negatively affect the work of craftsmen and practitioners, which, in turn, gets in the way of Plato’s idea of the just city where everyone does their own work.

The government’s legislative branch is in charge of the distribution of money among the states. Usually, however, money is distributed unequally; tax policies and government contracts spread wealth to specific groups of citizens. Because of this disproportion in funding and resources, the majority of the U.S. population has remained largely poor or middle-class, while only a few are among the wealthy elite. This inequality between classes, goes against a democratic constitution, which is supposed to enforce equality among all. Plato, furthermore, claims that there is no “greater evil for a city than what tears it apart and makes it many instead of one” (Republic 462a). Therefore, in Plato’s view, contemporary political arrangements in the United States do greater harm than good for the individuals and the society as a whole due to its creation of a political faction between the poor and the wealthy. As Socrates points out, “A city is not a city if it contain[s] two…which are at war with one another: the city of the poor and that of the rich” (Republic 423a). In order to prevent such war and conflict, Plato argues for a moderate approach to wealth and poverty, where everyone has only what is necessary to support a sustainable living. This encourages the temperate or moderate part of the soul, which enforces harmony within the individual, and in turn, a harmonious and just