“Everything has got to be smashed to start with our whole damned civilization has tog to go, before we can bring any decency into the world” ‘Mourlan’, in DU GARD’S Les Thibaults
This quote is a good way to describe what Karl Popper labeled as Utopian Engineering to which he thought was the most dangerous Platonic approach to creating and running the ideal state. In the Republic, Plato has a Utopian Engineering way of how he wants to start and run his ideal state. This is something that Popper is not in favour of. He believes the more civil approach to starting an ideal state is Piecemeal Social Engineering. Piecemeal Social Engineering is an approach that changes are incremented in a small scale and are continuously amended with …show more content…
According to Plato the ideal state is a state where there are 3 main functions in society: 1) To produce, work, engage in productive activity. 2) Someone needs to exercise political power, needs to rule. 3) People who will enforce the rulers’ decisions. Plato has a respect for human diversity, and he says no 2 of us are born exactly alike. Different skills make us fit for different jobs. This is where it is said that specialization is required and is broken up into classes. For in an ideal state each person does only what they are best suited to do and argues for a very strict division of labour. It is better to focus on one skill that one does best, instead of focusing on a bunch of skills. Natural skills are gifts from the gods. They do this for the sake of the common good. A man cannot play many parts as well as they can play one. There would be the following classes; 1) Guardians, these would be the rulers of the state. They don't get any cash and don't live richly. They qualify because they do not want to be guardians. Philosophers are the ones that Plato wants as Guardians and until the Philosopher King comes into political power there is no hope for society(473d). He believes that every society needs to have them. It would be someone who has a passion and desire to seek the truth from their earliest years. Women could be Guardians and were offered the same education as the men. 2) Auxiliaries, they are the defenders of the state (374a). 3) Producers, providers of the materials and needs for the state. Producers were the only ones that owned land. The classes are assigned minerals these represented their souls (369d). These were gold(guardians), silver(auxiliaries), and iron or bronze(producers). The citizens worth and function were determined by this, it creates a strict class separation.
This quote is a good way to describe what Karl Popper labeled as Utopian Engineering to which he thought was the most dangerous Platonic approach to creating and running the ideal state. In the Republic, Plato has a Utopian Engineering way of how he wants to start and run his ideal state. This is something that Popper is not in favour of. He believes the more civil approach to starting an ideal state is Piecemeal Social Engineering. Piecemeal Social Engineering is an approach that changes are incremented in a small scale and are continuously amended with …show more content…
According to Plato the ideal state is a state where there are 3 main functions in society: 1) To produce, work, engage in productive activity. 2) Someone needs to exercise political power, needs to rule. 3) People who will enforce the rulers’ decisions. Plato has a respect for human diversity, and he says no 2 of us are born exactly alike. Different skills make us fit for different jobs. This is where it is said that specialization is required and is broken up into classes. For in an ideal state each person does only what they are best suited to do and argues for a very strict division of labour. It is better to focus on one skill that one does best, instead of focusing on a bunch of skills. Natural skills are gifts from the gods. They do this for the sake of the common good. A man cannot play many parts as well as they can play one. There would be the following classes; 1) Guardians, these would be the rulers of the state. They don't get any cash and don't live richly. They qualify because they do not want to be guardians. Philosophers are the ones that Plato wants as Guardians and until the Philosopher King comes into political power there is no hope for society(473d). He believes that every society needs to have them. It would be someone who has a passion and desire to seek the truth from their earliest years. Women could be Guardians and were offered the same education as the men. 2) Auxiliaries, they are the defenders of the state (374a). 3) Producers, providers of the materials and needs for the state. Producers were the only ones that owned land. The classes are assigned minerals these represented their souls (369d). These were gold(guardians), silver(auxiliaries), and iron or bronze(producers). The citizens worth and function were determined by this, it creates a strict class separation.