V of Plato's Republic - Term Paper Example

In the novel entitled Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, a society based on the eradication of individuality is described. All members of society are given a drug called “soma” in order to live in a chemically induced euphoria as prescribed by the social leaders. Similarly, in Plato’s Book V of the Republic, it is intended that society eliminate the barriers imposed by family units in order for the community as a whole to contain people that are all equally affiliated with one another in order for the community to act as one organism in and of itself.

As far as a communist theory goes, this is described as ideal because the overall whole of the population is then able to see itself as one equally related group of people, without one person having special interest in the well being of another person more so than they would anyone else within that society. In addition to making each person equally associated to all other persons within this society, it is pointed out by Plato that women and men are capable of performing many of the same tasks therefore somewhat eliminating gender roles and furthering the elimination of the family unit.

Plato did however tend to express his thoughts that women were inferior to men in many ways including intellect, “ For men born and educated like our citizens, the only way, in my opinion, of arriving at a right conclusion about the possession and use of women and children is to follow the path on which we originally started, when we said that the men were to be the guardians and watchdogs of the herd” (Plato, pp. 2). This quote serves to illustrate Plato’s intention to expand on a woman’s role in his idealistic society, but yet he still places men in a leadership position above women.

It can also be said that Plato examined the notion of the whole populace as a gene pool and only the best specimens out of that gene pool should reproduce thus rendering the best possible offspring. In Brave New World, there