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Comparing Socrates And The Guardians In Plato's Book V Of The Republic

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In Book V of the Republic, Plato exhibits the point of view of his teacher, Socrates, regarding sexual relations between the male and the female guardians in the context of an ideal city. Socrates teaching method was constituted by arguments on certain notions throughout which various opinions were presented while Plato was capturing them. The characters that take part in his book, The Republic, are Socrates, Cephalus, Polemarchus (son of Cephalus), Glaucon (brother of Plato), Thracymachus and Adeimantus. Through his discussions, Socrates implies that a city should be divided into three groups of people as not all people can be successful in all tasks. These divisions are the producers, the guardians, and the rulers. One of the topics that Socrates stresses, especially in Book V of the Republic, is this of the male and the female gender. Principally, he portrays the two sexes in relation to the responsibility of being a guardian of the city. Plato also presents the position of his teacher regarding the family structure of the guardians. Overall, Book V of the Republic is mainly focused on defining which were the relations between the two genders together with family structure of the guardians in the city, according to Socrates. It has been evident that Socrates is in favor of the idea of common property and in general of communal benefit. This means that, according to him, the common good of the city is attainable in the case that all …show more content…

Taking into account his position on the matter of family structure combined with the nature of sexual relations between male and female it can be presupposed that Plato’s teacher does not appear to be a feminist. In Book V of the Republic Socrates states numerous times that women should go through the same nurture and education as men (Olugbade, 1989). This education would include gymnastics, music and music. He recognizes

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