Political thought has been a distinctive activity of human beings since the ancient period. Thinking about politics is an inevitable activity of the earliest political thinkers. Several of them have sought to explain about the institutions, practices and government that they have found themselves living into (Boucher & Kelly, 2009). The magnitude of the differences among the proposals of these political thinkers could be attributed to the changes in the society occurring at that time. The classical political thinkers in the ancient Greece focused on the regulation of the city-states. They believed that if the state is properly regulated, the citizens could achieve a common good. The common good allows the citizens to pursue ideals that are
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Plato is an ancient Greek writer who came from an aristocratic family he wrote books such as The Republic, The Statesman and The Laws. There are various accounts in which Plato was able to incorporate his ideas and form them into theories. He is a political philosopher who formulated theories regarding the ideal state or regime. The well-known theories that Plato formulated in his book The Republic include that of the Theory of Forms or the Allegory of the Cave. The Theory of forms is about the world pursued by Philosopher Kings in order to attain absolute knowledge. The ascendance of the Philosopher King to the real world is depicted in the Allegory of the Cave (Plato, 1974). In the book, Plato at first began examining the state (polis) he saw that all existing states were badly governed and he was forced to believe that the only hope of finding justice lays in true philosophy, as for him the best human society is the Kallipolis which means beautiful city (Boucher & Kelly, 2009). And in order to achieve happiness there should be a just society, he stated that there should be three divisions of functions or classes in the society namely: the Guardians, the Auxiliaries, and the Producers. When three of these classes perform their specific function and do not meddle into other class activities, the ideal state is achieved. According to Plato, the soul of an individual consists of three parts, namely: rationality, spiritual and appetitive. These three parts comprise the justice in an individual when doing its own function. The rational part is when the two other parts of the soul obey and use its reason in performing an activity (Plato, 1974). Moreover, Plato in his book added that justice in the state is similar to justice within oneself. Justice within oneself entails the performance of the three parts of the soul in accordance to their function. The rational
Plato is an ancient Greek writer who came from an aristocratic family he wrote books such as The Republic, The Statesman and The Laws. There are various accounts in which Plato was able to incorporate his ideas and form them into theories. He is a political philosopher who formulated theories regarding the ideal state or regime. The well-known theories that Plato formulated in his book The Republic include that of the Theory of Forms or the Allegory of the Cave. The Theory of forms is about the world pursued by Philosopher Kings in order to attain absolute knowledge. The ascendance of the Philosopher King to the real world is depicted in the Allegory of the Cave (Plato, 1974). In the book, Plato at first began examining the state (polis) he saw that all existing states were badly governed and he was forced to believe that the only hope of finding justice lays in true philosophy, as for him the best human society is the Kallipolis which means beautiful city (Boucher & Kelly, 2009). And in order to achieve happiness there should be a just society, he stated that there should be three divisions of functions or classes in the society namely: the Guardians, the Auxiliaries, and the Producers. When three of these classes perform their specific function and do not meddle into other class activities, the ideal state is achieved. According to Plato, the soul of an individual consists of three parts, namely: rationality, spiritual and appetitive. These three parts comprise the justice in an individual when doing its own function. The rational part is when the two other parts of the soul obey and use its reason in performing an activity (Plato, 1974). Moreover, Plato in his book added that justice in the state is similar to justice within oneself. Justice within oneself entails the performance of the three parts of the soul in accordance to their function. The rational