A continuation of my reading on Plato’s Republic (a few more thoughts):

Within Plato’s “just” city, he is set in believing this utopia can be achieved through specific educational curriculum and societal laws.  I am skeptical this could be accomplished, yet when considering many research studies within modern psychology, I feel that his belief of an ideal city could potentially be warranted.

Plato’s ideal city will have educated its’ citizens from childhood, to conform and believe in their harmonious society.  A majority of the citizens will be kept in the dark about the actual truth of the world (the allegory of the cave), as according to Plato’s educational regimen, only the best of the best will be able to go forward into learning the truth.    At times, it seems reminiscent of many isolationist cults or even the systematic censorship within the former USSR.  One of the issues the Soviet Union suffered from was not taking into account the concept of self-serving human nature and the abuse of power.  The guardians may be taught and bred to believe that dying for the greater good would be noble, yet human psychology dictates that self-preservation is an innate factor.

I propose an interesting question: if Plato designed this complex and almost life long educational curriculum, to shape and mold the guardians of this ideal society, how can Plato consider himself competent enough to develop this curriculum and how would he deal with the unpredictability of the human condition?

Cheers,

Deanna