Ideal City In The Republic Socrates, Glaucon, And Adeimantus

In The Republic Socrates, Glaucon, and Adeimantus discuss the ideal city. After discussing the foundations of the city, Socrates proposes three “shocking” practices. First, that men and women should should exercise naked together to promote shamelessness concerning the body. Next, “sexual communism” or non-monogamous relationships and the common upbringing of children to discourage personal and familial interest. Lastly, and possibly the most shocking, that the city should be ruled by Philosopher Kings. He states, “Until philosophers rule as kings or those who are now called kings and leading men genuinely and adequately philosophize, that is, until political power and philosophy entirely coincide, while the many natures who at present pursue …show more content…
To showcase the plight of good philosophers in a society like Athens, Socrates compares the city to a ship. The shipowner, a symbol for the general public, is bigger and larger than all others on board however he is hard of hearing, shortsighted, and he has little knowledge of sailing and navigation. The sailors, or knack politicians, all fight over who should be captain of the ship, and resort to force and tricks to get the shipowner’s endorsement. However, all of these sailors do not know the craft of navigation and are simply power hungry. There is one true captain, true philosopher, on the ship. He knows the craft of navigation but is dismissed as a useless stargazer. The good philosopher, like the one in the analogy, is disregarded because he seeks truth and not power or fame. The city will continue to be run by power hungry knack politicians until a true philosopher comes into power. The only problem with this notion is that a true philosopher can only be produced in an ideal city and an ideal city can only be run by a true philosopher. Plato’s republic is a self-sustaining system and Socrates shows that it is incredibly difficult to escape false …show more content…
These “evils” include disunity within the state, citizens and politicians acting in self-interest, and tyranny. The ideal city, like the soul, would be split into three classes: the appetitive portion, the spirited portion, and finally the rational portion. Like the parts of the soul, when these classes don’t work to sustain each other, the city will suffer disunity. Although each class may want to act in self-interest the fact is that they all rely on each other to exist and without functional unity between them, there can be no justice. Again, self interest in the modern city leads to tyranny. When a ruler rules for power or wealth, he does not look at the city as a whole and will not act for common interest, effectively disregarding the unity of the