In Plato's ideal state, there are three classes in society. There are the laborers and the guardians; the guardians are split up into two classes: the auxiliaries and the rulers. The auxiliaries are the soldiers of the state, and they carry out the decisions that are made by the rulers. The rulers job is to solve conflicts among the people of the state, and make decisions regarding policy. Plato says that the guardians need to be the people who have the most love for the community. The rulers are chosen because they are the best of the guardians, so they need to have more love for the community than anyone else. Because of this, they will be happy knowing that the state is in good shape, they don't care about material things so much. In order
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Plato believes that certain people are superior in their physical and intellectual abilities. Plato creates the myth of metals as a way to rank people. The myth of metals says that people have different metals in their composition. Rulers have gold, auxiliaries have silver, and the laboring class has bronze or iron. Although Plato obviously doesn't believe that people have different kinds of metals in their souls, this myth still proves that he thinks certain people are above everyone else. Rulers can only be the elite few who are composed of gold. This myth is also how the rulers are chosen—as a ruler can only be a person that is composed of gold, and no other metal (Plato 182). Hobbes, on the other hand, disagrees with this. He thinks that all people are roughly equal when it comes to physical and intellectual abilities. Even if there were somebody superior in the state of nature, Hobbes argues everyone else would be able to team up to out-muscle even the strongest man, or out-wit the smartest. Because of this, the way the sovereign is chosen is also different than in Plato's society. Hobbes says that a sovereign is put in power in one of two ways: institution or acquisition. Institution is when the people of the commonwealth agree to submit to some person or group of people in the hopes that they will protect them against all others. Acquisition is a commonwealth which is established by force. An example of this would be when a victor in war subjugates the vanquished. These are the two ways the sovereign is chosen or gains power in Hobbes' society (Hobbes ch. 13,
Plato believes that certain people are superior in their physical and intellectual abilities. Plato creates the myth of metals as a way to rank people. The myth of metals says that people have different metals in their composition. Rulers have gold, auxiliaries have silver, and the laboring class has bronze or iron. Although Plato obviously doesn't believe that people have different kinds of metals in their souls, this myth still proves that he thinks certain people are above everyone else. Rulers can only be the elite few who are composed of gold. This myth is also how the rulers are chosen—as a ruler can only be a person that is composed of gold, and no other metal (Plato 182). Hobbes, on the other hand, disagrees with this. He thinks that all people are roughly equal when it comes to physical and intellectual abilities. Even if there were somebody superior in the state of nature, Hobbes argues everyone else would be able to team up to out-muscle even the strongest man, or out-wit the smartest. Because of this, the way the sovereign is chosen is also different than in Plato's society. Hobbes says that a sovereign is put in power in one of two ways: institution or acquisition. Institution is when the people of the commonwealth agree to submit to some person or group of people in the hopes that they will protect them against all others. Acquisition is a commonwealth which is established by force. An example of this would be when a victor in war subjugates the vanquished. These are the two ways the sovereign is chosen or gains power in Hobbes' society (Hobbes ch. 13,