Plato's republic
...philosopher-kings where chosen to be the lawmakers. Since an individual can not be self-sufficient, the commercial class should consist of divisions of labor and specialties. Productivity is increased when people are doing what they specialize or are good at and not necessarily what they are assigned to do(Annas 172). Therefore, the city must include specialists in farming, building, tool making, merchants, and so forth. These trades will only fulfill the needs of a basic society. Once a civilization progresses beyond the mere necessities, specialists in other arts will be added such as sculptors, playwrights, painters, and doctors. Also, as wealth grows, this city and the neighboring cities may come to war and military specialists will also be needed(Ophir 73-74). If some of the city’s population grows into classes of wealth and poverty, sections of the population will cease to function properly. The city must grow only as a single unit. Plato suggests that the education system will preserve the unity as the city grows. Men and women are to be educated, trained, and treated equally within the Republic. The basic principle of the ideal city is specialization and coordination of functions(Annas 172). By instructing the citizens in their assigned roles, the educational system preserves the city's way of life. The ideal city is only possible if the rulers have both political power and philosophical thinking(Ophir 75-76). For a society to have justice, it must contain wisdom, courage, and discipline(Howland 109). Wisdom is a skill in doing good for the benefit of the city as a whole(Murphy 11). Courage is the ability to judge correctly about the nature and extent of dangers. Discipline is an order and control of certain desires and appetites. Plato’s view is that a just city is a city in which there is the best arrangement, where each citizen is doing what he is supposed to do and not imposing on his neighbors(Murphy 13). The just city is the city in which the wisest citizens are in charge. The wisest citizens are those who understand justice or how both the city and each citizen ought to be arranged. Aristocracy is a government of philosopher kings, which is of course Plato’s creation. Plato tells of four imperfect forms of governments that can result from the degeneration of an ideal city. A Timarchy is a military aristocracy. The ideal city might decay into a timocracy by dissension among the Guardians, if some of them sought private property and wanted to reduce the other classes to slavery. The Guardians would then neglect education and distrust intelligence. The personality of this individual is competitive, arrogant, dictatorial, harsh to slaves, respectful to those above him, and ambitious for promotion. Oligarchy is literally government by the few who are rich. The accumu...