Equality And Egalitarianism In Plato's Utopian Society

Plato, a famous ancient Greek Philosopher wrote several dialogues and although little is known about his life due to a lack of surviving records it is unanimously agreed that he was one of the most influential figures in the development of philosophy in the Western tradition. In his book, The Republic Plato writes about the ideal human society where justice prevails and there are equality and egalitarianism among the people. This society is devoid of any crimes, any injustice and is a world where one can enjoy peace and happiness without the worry or fear of oppression of any kind. Plato went on to write how such a society would be governed in the form of a hierarchy in which at the topmost position would be the “philosopher kings” who would maintain equality and ensure that every decision they make is in the best interests of society (428). Their sole purpose would be to guard the people and their perfect society in every way possible.

While Athenians held such novel freedoms, the fatal flaw of Athenian freedom was its overly collective nature and protection of these freedoms. Athenian demokratia certainly has its merits and proves to have been a system of government and way of life way ahead of its time. The guarantee of political freedom, as the heart of demokratia, is what made the Athenians free. Among the very restricted membership to the citizenry, a system was established that made all citizens free from tyranny. Athenians were also free from invasion and external oppression due to the grandness of the Athenian navy and their monopoly power of the Aegean Sea.

In accordance with the previous statements, Plato unites the ideas of justice and equality by not accepting the societal norms of this time period. Equally important, Plato’s introduction of these forward-thinking ideas may have been the planting of a seed, in the sense that he induced thoughts about equality in his community. In understanding that there is not a correlation between one’s gender and one’s nature, equality is easier to attain in the just

Zeus protects the immortal and mortal world, in terms of laws, order and life in general. The Greeks saw Zeus as the supreme ruler of gods and of men. I believe that the Greeks truly worshiped the gods and felt that they were perfect immortal beings. To the Greeks, the gods did no wrong as holy figures, therefore, Zeus’s actions were justified as acceptable. As mortals, Greeks were most likely afraid to question anything the gods did, and specifically not Zeus.

Overall, Socrates was a highly controversial philosopher but he will forever be a memorable and huge part of philosophy. His tactics, subconsciously, are used by people to this day. And although some people may not agree with points of view he never gave up on his own beliefs, even down to his last moments. Socrates redefines the definition of philosophy, to me. Philosophy is the study of knowledge, but to Socrates his approach and use of philosophy was to understand the key to

Aristotle advanced the philosophy of ethics, where he demonstrated that it is a means of achieving an end to happiness. However, happiness means many things to different people. To Aristotle, the most adequate way to pursue happiness is through the virtue of excellence. In his writings, Aristotle connected his therory of virtue to economics, and leadership as well. It is a matter of connecting ones personal ethics to that of ones business ethics.

Comparative analysis of Aristotelian Equality In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle asserts one cannot live a virtuous and fulfilling life without the presence of a friend, despite the presence of the essential goods. In addition to his point, he states the best friendships are built upon a true equality which in turn builds on the mutual contributions and goodness of the character of the individuals within a friendship. Without equality, Aristotle argues, friendships tend to fall apart either due to eventual conflicts of interest or the friendship outliving it usefulness. However, some might argue the best friendships do not need any equality among individuals and can still produce the benefits of a Aristotle definition of the best friendship.

For many years great philosophers such as Socrates and Plato have defined and given great understanding into life and its moral ethics. Socrates was born in Athens in 469 BC. He was known to be one of the wisest men on earth. Socrates is credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy. Many individuals often as the question in their mind, “Who is the real Socrates?”

Individual actions result in the foreordained ending of Oedipus. Decision can truly change a lot of things. The determinists believe that things that happened are all destined, and not within the control of human. They believe that no matter what they do, they don’t have the power or ability to change the things or events that are going to happen since it was all fated.

In all of Plato 's dialogues, Socrates ' main goal is to achieve happiness, although friends and foes alike present him pathways that could lead to pleasure, but not true happiness. Moreover, in Crito, Socrates pursues happiness by obediently following the Athenian law, whereas, Crito tries to lure him into committing an unjust action so that he can obtain the pleasure of having a friend and keeping a good reputation and so that Socrates can still have the pleasure of life on earth1. One can know that happiness and pleasure are different due to the fact that happiness is a state of being eternally fulfilled, but pleasure provides a person only an immediate and short-lived image of fulfillment. If happiness is being eternally fulfilled, then it would not be of this world because this world has many flaws and is mortal.

Even though there are billions of people that walk this Earth, everybody is their own individual with their own ideas and personalities. Because of this, it is hard to imagine a world where personality and individuality do not exist. But Ayn Rand’s Anthem does just that; she paints a society in which no one is an individual. Anthem’s society is that of conformity, which means one must be complacent with the rules and laws of his/her society. Sure one could see this as a good thing, but throughout Anthem, Ayn Rand shows that conformity is not as good as it sounds, but rather the worst way to live.

2- By removing its causes and controlling its effects are the two main ways, they could also by destroying the liberty and by giving every citizen the same opinion passions and interests. Obviously the last two would not work because liberty is essential to have in a government. Also all people do not have the same opinions and passions and interests, in a free nation we are entitled to have our own ideas and passions and such. The only effective way would be to control effects and to try and remove the causes.

So, in conclusion nobody would want to live in a world like this, and it wouldn 't be very efficient. Not only that, it would be impossible to make a world perfectly fair, so why try to. So ultimately this story presents the reasons why complete fairness is foolish to try and create and really couldn 't happen so hopefully this never happens in the

This explains why there is still poverty and wars in the world. Contrary to forces in nature such as gravity, that humans can do nothing about, the social world can and is controlled by humans. Schwalbe writes “it is within our collective power to recreate the world in a better way” (Schwalbe, pg.22). Comparatively, when it comes to who people think they are, many times they do not realize that social categories are also based on ideas invented by people. The example the author of the article uses is race.

Utopian societies are never perfect and in reality, many fall short of what perfect societies should convey. Many utopian societies conveyed in novels introduce the bright side of the society, but those utopias also contain a disturbing side to their existence. Utopias that are conveyed in novels such as Divergent and “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” have differences such as their culture, environment, and overall setup, while simultaneously having similarities with their foundations. Many sources support the claim of utopias, such as the short story “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” by Harlan Ellison.