Ideal Society

It is in Plato's Republic that we first get a discussion of his idyllic country and the mechanism needed for its proper function. Plato's model, well-known as Gallipolis is introduced by Socrates during his argument with his friends and it is all through Books I-VIII that this state is built up through three separate stages until Plato concludes that only philosophers should be kings.

Socrates starts with what Plato labels the "first principals of social organization", namely the basics which are needed for an "economically self sufficient city"; in the second stage he goes on to develop this idea. He adds luxury to the state necessitating the presence of armed forces which in turn become the governing class from which come the philosopher kings, selected by the process of the education system that Plato set up to choose those best qualified to rule.

The first stage is primitive at best and simply contains the key elements needed to fulfil the "underlying principles of any society". The two principles Socrates found were first, mutual need, as "The individual is not self sufficient but has many needs which he can't supply himself". Therefore humans need to live together in societies in order to survive. Plato lists the needs of the basic community as being provision of food, shelter, and clothing requiring tradesmen to provide services such as farming, weaving and building as well as others providing support by making the necessary equipment for them. From this, a small state is begun on a purely economic basis. Adequate provision for people's own needs rather than friendship is what for the time being ties this community together. The second principal is "different natural aptitudes which fit us for different jobs", and therefore it is "better to exercise one skill" and "specialise on a single job for which he (an individual) is naturally fitted and neglects all others". Therefore people should attend to their specific trades and be prepared to share the produce with all so that the community can survive. The need for imports is raised thereby bringing Socrates to construct another group which would trade abroad and would need a surplus from the community in order to purchase other goods. This requires the use of "experts on ships and seafaring", a "market" to buy and sell imports and other goods and a "currency as the medium of exchange". The marketplace would also require a "class of retailers" whose sole job is to run the market thereby freeing others to do their own tasks. The final touch Socrates puts to the state is to add a class of "wage-earners" whose strength means they can contribute most through manual labour. They "market their strength in return for wages". And thus Socrates concludes that "our complement of citizens seems to be complete".

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