The Dynamic Republic
by Artemis Pados
Category: Humanities
Abstract – Plato writes through the words of Socrates in “The Republic” that the ideal order and character of a just city-state can be found by examining the soul of a just man. In Book IV, Plato writes that there are three parts to the human soul – “appetite, spirit, and wisdom”- and by analogy, Plato concludes that these categories directly translate to the way in which an ideal state/society should be organized. I argue that there are two significant flaws with Plato’s ideal city: (1) The lack of social mobility, which may limit the dreams and ambition of people causing the overall happiness to decline; and (2) the lack of necessary details in determining class assignments (that is, by whom and when), which may lead to considerations of non-optimal power distribution in the city and potential error in placement of its citizens. As a solution, I propose a formal method of regular reevaluation of the classes of the city leading one to reconsider Plato’s model as dynamic rather than static as originally presented.