A Clockwork Society

When looking for a broad topic, there are times when it is better to search in a place filled with many individuals, rather than one. In Plato’s Republic, Socrates seeks to find the definition of justice by creating a large city. By studying the effects on the city’s ruler, the state of the people, and the prosperity of the society, one can see that searching for justice in a city is preferable to a singular level, to determine whether there is objective justice.

Rulers are the heads of their cities, and just as a snake leads its tail so does the nature of a ruler guide the country. Socrates begins building his city by creating soldiers and figure heads called guardians who practice the craft of warfare (374.b). They serve as the city's military, and while the guardians are not kings or senators, they are considered of high rank due to their service of protecting the city and its laws. Socrates demonstrates the importance of the guardians by saying, “But if the guardians of our laws and city are not really what they seem to be, you may be sure that they will destroy the city utterly…” (421.a). Thus, Socrates takes special care with what a guardian’s nature should require since a corrupt guardian would lead the city and its people into chaos, while a just guardian will turn toward prosperity. The education of the guardian would ensure the innate virtue and love of learning so that the soldiers would not become trapped in the ignorant prison of arrogance, but rather would be harmonious (376.b). Socrates says, “...rhythm and harmony permeate the innermost element of the soul…bring it grace, such education makes one graceful if one is properly trained. And the opposite if one is not” (401.d). The ruler of the city carries the same burden, the hardship of establishing laws falling to the figurehead. Should the ruler be corrupted by vice, or as Socrates says, “unnecessary pleasures and appetites”, then the difunctional and unjust nature of the laws the ruler sets in place will pour down into the people and affect their crafts (571.b).

The people’s role in society is to perfect their craft so that the city may function without any weakness. Socrates speaks of the dangers of excess, whether that is the excess of money or the excess of poverty, on the integrity of the people and their craft (421.d). A craftsman who suffers from riches will no longer create what he used to with the same care as before while the poor craftsman will not have the tools to make sufficient materials for the city. A corrupt ruler who drives the city into poverty will cripple the people by first crippling their crafts. As well as the crafts, the unity of the people will suffer should injustice and vice run rampant through the streets. Socrates explains, “...if the function of injustice is to produce hatred wherever it occurs…won’t it make them hate one another, form factions, and be unable to achieve any common purpose?” (351.d). Should the people be governed by injustice instead of virtue and wisdom, then the unity, which is essential for any city to prosper, will vanish. Neighbors will turn against neighbors while all grapple for ways to feed their own mad appetites. The members of the community who will prosper will be the ones who reign justly over their own self appetites and do not regress to a lawless nature.

For the city to prosper, first the people and the rulers must govern themselves with integrity. Socrates says, “…the best and most just is the most happy, and that he is the one who is most kingly and rules like a king over himself” (580.c). Those who do not submit to every fleeting emotion of lawless decision shall be the ones whose crafts are perfected and laws flourish, while the people who serve their passions will drive themselves to ruin. Tyrants desire to rule and yet cannot rule themselves. They have no self-control and so the tyrants spend and borrow with no thought as to how their city shall be affected (573.d). Cities ruled by a tyrant shall be drunk to the dregs in order for the ruler's insatiable appetite to be filled, while a society governed by one who first governs himself can only become richer in virtue and justice (580.c). Socrates claims there is, “no city more wretched than a tyrannical one and none happier than one ruled by a king” (576.e). A tyrannical city will be constantly in debt and their guardians greedy instead of protecting, while the city ruled by a wise king will want for nothing.

Justice is easier to find by studying the relationship between people rather than the individual level. By creating an ideal city, Socrates discovers the bedrock of justice’s nature as well as what is needed for a society to prosper. There are thousands of ways for a city to crumble whether it is through the ruler or the craftsman, however there is only one way for the city to remain virtuous: objective justice.

Work Cited:

Plato. Republic. Translated by C.D.C. Reeve, Hackett Publishing, 2004