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Plato: A Critical Analysis Of Plato's The Republic

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This paper 's purpose is to make a critical analysis on Plato 's argument that philosopher kings are the best rulers. Plato always manages to stir the minds of the people and achieves his goal to make us think critically. He is an Athenian philosopher with high status during Classical Greece and the founder of The Academy in Athens, the very first institution of higher learning in the Western World. He is the teacher of Aristotle. He is also the student of Socrates who wrote or compiled the Socratic Dialogue – The Republic. It was the greatest gift that Plato was able to give to Socrates. In The Republic, Plato stated that philosophers should be the rulers because they have the wisdom to rule correctly and properly. The paper will render an argument on Plato 's idealism of the best ruler that his argument, although ideal, is not entirely plausible and the applicability of his idealism in our postmodern world.
In The Republic, Plato 's work, he tackles on a pressing issue - justice. He identifies that political justice is the key to an organized political body. His ideal society consists of three different kinds of mankind. The producers are the largest class in the polis. They are the craftsmen, farmers, artisans, merchants, doctors, actors, lawyers, and basically any profession except for the warriors and the rulers. The auxiliaries are the warriors responsible for defending and protecting the polis. The guardians (or the rulers) are responsible for ruling the polis. In

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