Kallipolis And Plato’s Vision Of Justice In The Republic

Plato’s Republic is a Socratic dialogue exploring justice in the context of examining the character of a just man and the order of a just polity. Leading up to ‘The Three Classes and Their Mutual Relations’, Socrates explores what it is to be just and whether it is right to be just in and of itself through his discussions with Thrasymachus and Glaucon. Plato identifies justice as harmony in a structured political body and begins to form a vision of Kallipolis, consisting of three distinct classes, introducing justice as the association between the structure of the soul and this social structure of the city. I will discuss the key arguments of 1) The Characteristics of the Kallipolis and the Principle of Specialisation (Section I); 2) the City-Soul analogy (Section II); and 3) The “Noble Lie” and the Myth of the Metals (Section III) to argue that the most significant thing from this passage is the importance of Plato’s creation of Kallipolis in defending and supporting his overarching definition of justice.

Section I: The Characteristics of the Kallipolis and the Principle of Specialisation

In this passage, Socrates introduces a tripartite class system of Guardians, Auxiliaries and Craftsmen, founded upon the Principle of Specialisation which was introduced in Book II. According to Plato, political justice boils down to this one guiding principle in which every individual has ‘different natural aptitudes which fit for different jobs’ or techne therefore craftsmen must produce according to their skills; warriors must fight; and the philosophers must rule in order to achieve Plato’s utopian vision. Socrates goes on to suggest that citizens ‘must imitate right from childhood what is appropriate for them’ and by having each citizen do a single job to the best of their ability, the city will begin to work as a successful, single unit. Plato’s emphasis on specialisation extends to the human soul, whose three parts specialise in terms of appetite, emotion, and reason – each associating with a class, forming the foundation of the city-soul analogy. However, is the Kallipolis truly a just city? Plato’s hierarchical system is elitist and static in nature as philosophers, and philosophers only, have the aptitude to rule and there are no provisions for mobility between the classes for individuals as they grow. However Plato would counter that each person should find their class pleasing and satisfying to them since it should be best suited to their aptitude. This principle provides the foundation for Plato’s Myth of the Metals – the central argument of this passage.

The Guardian class, often referred to as rulers or philosopher-kings, epitomise physical strength, spiritedness and a love of learning. Although in this passage, Socrates begins to speculate and decides that they should be broken into subcategories: Complete Guardians and Auxiliaries. Complete guardians are ‘Guardians in the fullest sense’ and the highest class within Plato’s Republic, their ‘function being to see that friends at home shall not wish, nor foes abroad be able, to harm our state’. Plato argues that ‘The society we have described can never grow into a reality… till philosophers become rulers in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands.’ The philosopher is a lover of wisdom (Sophia) and especially of learning knowledge and truth and are therefore equipped to serve the good of the city before they see to themselves and their self-interests. Whereas the Auxiliaries are the city’s soldiers, ‘their function being to assist the Rulers in the execution of their decisions’. Socrates states that the third class will be the farmers and craftsmen and will be seen to be nearly as important to the city as the rest of the classes as without them, the rest of the city would surely fail. With this tripartite theory, Plato sets the foundation for the city-soul analogy which stems from the principle that the internal psyche of the individual is analogous with the constitution of external society therefore this passage is essential in the scheme of Plato’s argument of justice.

Section II: The City-Soul Analogy

Another mechanism implemented by Plato to justify Kallipolis within his definition of justice is the city-soul analogy which runs through the dialogue from Republic II to IX. Socrates advocated that a perfect city would be founded on the four ‘cardinal virtues’, the ‘qualities of wisdom, courage, self-discipline and justice’. In order to prove that individual justice parallels political justice, Socrates identifies three dimensions of the soul: a rational part of the soul that lusts after truth and wisdom, a spirited part that lusts after honour, and an appetitive part that lusts after food, drink, sex, and especially money. Appetite is most prominent amongst the producing class, spirit among the Auxiliaries and lastly rationality and wisdom is dominant within the Guardians. Just relations between the three parts of the soul mirror just relations among the classes of society and therefore a just Kallipolis. As reflected in the hierarchy of the city, rationality rules over the other parts of the soul, with the spirited part acting as helper to keep the appetitive in line just as the honour-loving Auxiliaries act as the Guardians’ helpers to keep the producers in check. The city-soul analogy occupies a significant position in the construction of the theory of justice in Republic and is shown to be philosophically accountable within the whole argumentative structure.

Philosophers such as Bernard Williams have engaged their efforts to prove that this analogy, as the fundamental argument in the Republic, weakens Plato’s definition of justice. Williams labelled Plato’s argument that a city is just if and only if its citizens are just as the ‘whole-part’ theory and aims to highlight the lack of consistency within Plato’s argument. Plato states that appetitive citizens are not ruled by their rationality, enabling us to conclude that they are unjust and since the majority of the populace are appetitive, surely the majority of citizens must be unjust and therefore the city also? Although, Williams overlooks that Plato does not imply that every citizen is necessarily just in the same sense. Plato’s primary concern is the justice of the Kallipolis, but not the justice of its constituent parts. For example, when Plato introduces the Myth of the Metals in this passage, his intention is to establish justice and harmony within the city, but not necessarily the happiness of every citizen. Furthermore, it must be noted that this analogy is first and foremost in service of Plato’s argument for his manifestation of the definition of justice. Therefore, as a strategy to show what the nature of justice is in the individual alone, the analogy is quite feasible therefore Williams’ critique is less convincing, despite the valid points raised.

Section III: The “Noble Lie” and the Myth of the Metals

The most significant argument unveiled in this passage is Socrates’ suggestion of fabricating a ‘magnificent myth’ via the ‘Myth of the Metals’ to convince all citizens to accept their status within society as innate. The objective of this “Noble Lie” is to introduce the enforcement of a collective identity of citizens – brothers and sisters all born of mother earth. The Myth of the Metals, as a metaphor for aptitudes, explains how god fashioned each individual from a particular metal: ‘gold in the composition of those of you who are qualified to be Rulers; he put silver in the Auxiliaries, and iron and bronze in the farmers and other workers’. The religious aspect of Plato’s tale acts as an incentive of obedience as depending on whichever metal god gave you, that is your true place in society and to go against this decision would be to go against god himself. It can also be argued that Plato’s Kallipolis is authoritarian in nature, with the myth of the metals serving as state-controlled propaganda which is also ironic as one of Plato’s primary critiques of democracy was that its politicians constantly mislead it, governing by propaganda rather than reason. This myth also poses the risk that spectators won’t be able to see past the analogies’ imitation of the truth to the whole truth – a weakness throughout Plato’s Republic with analogies such as the Sun, the Divided Line and the Cave in books VI-VII.

Socrates claims that this “Noble Lie” is deceit for the benefit of the city and states that unlike other tales which ‘breed in our young men an undue tolerance of wickedness’, his single noble lie would have a positive overall effect, by making the citizens ‘increase their loyalty to the state and to each other’. However it can be noted ironic that Plato is so willing to deceive without hesitation an entire populace when he holds knowledge and truth in such high esteem. The Myth of the Metals is intended to be believed by the whole community, most likely in ‘the second and later generations’ rather than the first and believed even by ‘the Guardians themselves’. Yet, does this also not reflect the shadows in the analogy of the cave in book VII? If all citizens are to perceive this story as true, including the Guardians who’s role it is as philosophers to return to the cave and educate, surely the system will crumble once the truth is known? How can philosophers who are supposed to hold all knowledge and wisdom rule – if their perception of reality is a lie? Although Plato would argue that the reality and therefore the truth is still the same and only perceptions of appearance have been changed; which Plato already deemed less significant when discussing the Forms and epistemology versus ontology in book V. Moreover, I would still argue that Plato’s theory is not realistically feasible yet Plato’s primary argument in this passage is defending his definition of justice which the Myth of the Metals and the City-soul analogy together, achieves.

Conclusion

Throughout this essay, I argued that that the most significant thing from this passage is the importance of the creation of Plato’s Kallipolis in defending and supporting his overarching definition of justice. Firstly, I argued the significance of the Principle of Specialisation in creating Plato’s tripartite class system and then went on to explore how this influenced the city-soul analogy; as in Plato’s pursuit to define justice he had to acknowledge the creation of a hierarchy in both class and aptitude to legitimise the Guardians ruling over the ruled – the producers. I then went on to explore the Myth of the Metals and whether it is truly a “Noble Lie” and Plato even acknowledged himself that the Myth of the Metals alone is a substantially weak justification for obedience. However, when the myth is treated as a complementary element to the city-soul analogy and the principle of specialisation, then Plato’s vision of Kallipolis seems far more feasible and his account of justice becomes complete, fulfilling Plato’s aim for the Republic.