Discuss the views of Socrates and Plato in regards to what the best political system should be - Essay Example

Socrates and Plato’s Best Political System View Socrates and Plato believed that in an ideal republic, each person can live a more perfect life. Though all had their own theories, Plato was more of Socrates student. Plato’s work and theories show that he valued and trusted the teaching of Socrates. Having faith in Socrates teachings; Plato has made Socrates a point of reference in most of his dialogues and work. Through Socrates questions and descriptions, one is enabled to understand what Plato‘s ideal republic would look like (Mara 28).1) Socrates views on DemocracyThough appreciated by many, Socrates was a critic of democracy.

Democracy can be defined through its features: privacy, equality, affirming freedom and diversity. According to Socrates democracy is not good enough for an ideal republic. Socrates describes democracy as whimsical and with no stable character. Through this, Socrates paints a democratic state as unstable state that is in the act of doing the good thing and bad things whenever they feel like. According to Socrates, democratic states are so subject to things that are not necessary (Jowett and Plato 68).

According to Socrates, democracy is hostile to all forms of authority. This is from the fact that one of the pillars that define democracy is freedom. Therefore an authority of any form will automatically be viewed as an attempt to limit freedom (Mara 43). Socrates says that democrats will prefer to die than to submit to authority. Socrates gives the situation where students start to disobey their teachers since they don’t want any form of authority.2) Plato’s View of RepublicPlato views a republic to be determined by “Good Life.

” To Plato, “Good Life” is a kind of harmony that is reached through the application of pure reasoning and justice with the product being a more perfect good life possible. In explaining this, Plato compares the operation of a society and an individual being (Jowett and Plato 58).Plato supposed that human beings have the same features and performs the same functions as city-states. That is a human being is similar to trees, buildings and other physical materials that make a city. Thus each human being is a complex structure made of different parts that has distinct roles.

In addition, Plato believed that the human soul has three parts: reason, desire and emotion. He uses this to elaborate that one can’t do things with a part of his soul or the whole soul. According to Plato, accepting and pursuing one thing is opposite to the rejection and avoidance of the same thing and since they are opposite forces they can’t belong to the same part of the soul but different (Jowett and Plato 72).Plato argues that these three parts of the souls represent: The making money reproductive class (appetitive class), the auxiliary or military class (spirited class) and the ruling class (rational class) respectively.

Each class, therefore, must certain functions and work together for the common good for the city to succeed (Mara 29).I do agree with Plato’s idea in relation to the ideal state since it is true that the society of the city is made by different individuals that have different roles to play from farming to the processors to the consumers, but for the sake of success, all these different individuals must work together since without it the chain is broken and the rest suffers.Works CitedJowett, Benjamin and Plato.

Plato: The Republic. Charleston: Forgotten Books, 2008. Print.Mara, Gerald M. Socrates Discursive Democracy: Logos and Ergon in Platonic Political Philosophy. New York: State University of New York Press, 1997. Print.