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Socrates Vs Plato

1001 Words5 Pages

Plato’s Republic examines many concepts that make up an ideal state, the biggest being how justice affects the structure of society as well as the human nature of an individual. In Book Two, Glaucon states that the only reason that justice exists is because people are afraid to act on unjust thoughts. He argues that if no one was afraid to act on these thoughts, then no one would be just. Glaucon’s brother Adeimantus adds on to this argument, stating that appearing to be just is better than actually being just. He adds that the unjust person who is able to maintain their reputation of being just will also be happier than the just person. To prove that a just person, who is treated poorly is truly happier than an unjust person treated well, …show more content…

After coming to the conclusion that everyone needs to be treated equal in order for their society to be functional, Socrates decides to examine the four types of government and how justice and injustice are formulated from these governments. These four governments are timocracy, oligarchy, democracy and tyranny. In a timocracy, men are obsessed with honor and will become ambitious of money and power. From this, the next form of government oligarchy is created. Oligarchy is a society where the rich are in control and rulers are chosen from wealth alone. The wealthy citizens in the oligarchy will give out money to the poorer ones and this will create democracy. In a democracy, everyone in a state is free and not obliged to give or take orders from anyone. Tyranny is a result of democracy because of the desire to be free. This desire for freedom turns into obsession which leads to people not wanting their freedom to be suppressed in any way. If there are limitations on their freedom, citizens will rebel against their ruler. Chaos will ensue and citizens will eventually stop following the rules. This is where tyranny arises. While the ruler is trying to maintain order, other men rise to power, promising the citizens change in their government. Once a tyrant gains support and popularity among the citizens he uses this to his advantage to get rid of people who threaten his power. Once he has done that, the tyrant forgets about all the promises that were made to the people and become

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