Hello, I’m Dr. Anadale.
I teach philosophy at Mount Saint Mary's University in
Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Book three of Plato's Republic continues the
discussion of the character and education of the Guardians that was
begun in book two.
We are talking about the literary education of the
Guardians and the need for a suitable literature.
In book two Socrates tells us that the content of the current
literature for young people is unsuitable.
It's unsuitable theologically because it teaches people false ideas
about the gods and it's unsuitable morally because it makes people cowardly
and ambitious.
Therefore the ideal city must have carefully designed stories to tell
the future Guardians to avoid these theological and moral errors.
Book three concludes this discussion of the content
of the stories about the gods and then moves on to talk about the artistic
elements of these stories, the style in which they will be told and the
harmonies to that will accompany these stories.
And we get some discussion of musical education for the Guardians.
There's a long section then that follows from 403 C to 412 B on the physical
education of the Guardians.
So we have dealt now with the emotional and character training of the Guardians
through stories, and now with their physical education to prepare them
bodily to protect the city.
At 412 C then begins a new section on the question of
who will rule the ideal city.
And we are told that we need a new class of people.
These people will be drawn from the Guardian class, we are told, from the best
among the Guardian class, those who love the city most and seek its advantage
most consistently over their lifetimes, and the people who
are strongest and most unshakable in their principles and therefore will be least
likely to be turned away from doing what is right for the city.
This new ruling class will be called the complete guardians.
The military class that they are drawn from will be called the
auxiliary guardians or auxiliaries.
Thus the ideal city will have three classes of people:
the common people, the auxiliaries or soldiers, and the guardians or rulers.
Book 3 ends with the myth of the metals.
Socrates says we will tell the citizens of the ideal city a noble lie about
their origin.
We will tell them that they were all born out of the soil of the
city, that they were formed underground and then rose up out of the city and
that therefore they should think of the earth, the soil of their city, as their
mother, and love and protect it always above all else, and that they should
think of their fellow citizens as their brothers, as born out of this same soil.
What Plato is doing in this part of the myth is to establish on a mythological
foundation the idea that loyalty to place is central to the identity of all the citizens.
They should love their city so much that they're willing to
sacrifice anything for it.
They should think of it as their mother.
Furthermore, Socrates says, we will tell the citizens
that while they were being formed under the earth the gods mixed into their
souls gold or silver or iron or bronze, making each individual suitable to be a
ruler, an auxiliary, or a craftsman or farmer.
This is going to mean that each individual is suited to be a member of
each class, not according to the accident of his birth, but according to his own
inner nature.
What Plato is essentially doing here is establishing the basis for
a meritocracy based upon individual talent and inborn orientation.
So he says we will tell the citizens of the ideal
city that they must not assume that the child of two rulers will himself be a
good ruler.
It may be he was born with a silver soul and would be best
placed with the auxiliary class.
We must above all avoid having any person with
a bronze soul come into power as one of the rulers, as a member of the
guardian class.
So Plato is establishing here a kind of mythological basis for a
meritocracy based upon people's own individual nature and individual talents.
That brings us to the end of book three.
In book four we'll continue the discussion of the three classes of people in the city
and their mutual relations and will then turn to the question of defining justice
in the city and justice in the soul.
Thanks for watching today; goodbye.