What do you think about a political system like Plato's Republic? What does /pol/ think some of the positive benefits and disadvantages might be of a system like Plato's Republic? Could it work?
>>69550518
>take kids away from they're parents to be reeducated
It's a bunch of commie bullshit is what it is.
>>69550518
Fucking hate this book. Its a bunch of guys trying to sound smart as opposed to giving simple solutions. I would slap the shit out of Plato.
>>69550518
Literally communist manifesto tier
Ok then, what's the best form of governance? And why?
(love you fucks on /pol/)
>>69550518
Its great
The purpose of the book is not to give you the answer to the questions presented by the dialogue, but instead to show patterns of logic and inquiry that can be used to come to ones own conclusion.
This book doesnt want to tell you how to think, it wants you to think in general and shows you ways to develop ideology
>>69550589
upper class always send their children off to prep school, it creates a more rounded citizen and frees adult personal time up
>le Plato=Totalitarian may-may
don't believe everything ( ( ( Karl Popper ) ) ) says, breh - he has a bit of a bias against Indo-Europeans
>>69550794
Minimal government, Austrian school of economics style.
>>69550794
Aristocratic Republic or benevolent dictator
>>69550518
If you want to save yourself some time just read Brave New World.
It's pretty much what The Republic would look like in practice with modern technology (minus the technologies Huxley didn't anticipate)
>>69550651
you are literally a neanderthal if you dont understand the purpose of this piece
>>69550858
>libertarian
an unregulated rip-off culture, then?
>>69550518
A very bare bones representation for a modern government.
This was written thousands of years ago, I expect it to be anachronistic. Thought has evolved far beyond this.
>>69551114
I have considered reading Brave New World. Seems like a book I'd enjoy.
The Republic for me was more of a philosophical text to read without the political bullshit. (Very hard to read it for its unpoliticalness)
I enjoyed the read, some concepts I could really get behind and the philosophical concepts behind some ideas gave me a raging hard on..... But I did find myself disagreeing a lot and thinking that this is literally a Marxist utopia..... Something I am utterly against.
>>69551259
this guy understand the book and its purpose.
its not a book on politics and how to run a country, its an inquiry into the philosophical ideologies behind nation building and shows you different methods of Socratic debate and logic to help yourself reach your own conclusions to your own answers regarding nation building
>>69550518
> ITT: People who think Plato actually described a Republic.
>>69551475
Ultimately that is why I enjoyed the book.
Muh wax seals. Muh eyes no workee in muh darkness. Muh shadow puppets
>>69550838
In Plato's day, the wealthy hired private teachers for their children.
>>69550518
I find it's discussion of a political system more hypothetical - the ultimate message is about how a good society can only come about from good individuals; having a spiritual constitution just as a society would have its own constitution to strive for reason/morality etc. rather than baser instincts
just my interpretation
>>69551216
Just a thought, but what's your take on Discourses on Livy, as it pertains to commentary on the Republic? Haven't read it or the Republic yet, but both are high on my list.
>>69550518
Greatest philosophical work of all time.
>>69550518
Well Plato operates on the premise that there are enlightend individuals who clearly stand out from the rest in comparision to the rest of civilization in their ability to solve problems by using rationality and 'just morals'.
In reality this is not feasable there are no philosopher kings we can give absolute power too since no human is perfect. Even if an individual comes close to the ideal of the pilosopher king, power has a tendency to corrupt and aboslute power corrupts absolutely.
>>69550838
>>69550589
>>69551868
>Alexander the Great taught by Aristole
>Conquers the entire ancient world
Philosopher king is no meme
>>69552135
Here we go. He was the stone age's David Icke or Žižek
>>69552248
>memes memes memes
Stop. Its really embarrassing.
>reading some dead olive nigger when the greatest political philosopher of all time is alive and publishing new work
>>69552179
but there have been philosopher kings. Alexander, Octavian, Marcus Aurelius, Justinian, Hadrian, Joseph II, etc.
There have also been philosopher republic leaders such as Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Monroe, etc.
There are proven success stories with the idea of the philosopher king
>>69552248
you are eating out of the dust bin of ideology
>>69552389
Muh cave allegory. Really? It's not even deep on a fourth wall level. You makee lightee you see fingah pappets beddur
>>69552437
For every philosopher king you mention, i can mention 3 tyrants.
There is no guarantee that absolute power invested in the leader will be a succes story.
>>69550589
As far as I recall the book was rather droll and consisted of Plato fellating himself via imaginary friends.
>>69552504
Of course there is no guarantee, that why i think there has been a drastic decline of monarchies over the last few centuries.
The point of the philosopher king idea is that the greatest possible leader would be a man with absolute power who took in all the arts and philosophies to create his policies. The difficulty and fault of the philosopher king is that it can not be assured even if it is the best form of government man has.
>>69552714
This. Muh four goos. Muh super ubermenschen
>>69551868
yes, like Yale is a private college with private teachers for wealthy students. Seeing as how Yale divinity school recently hired DeRay McKeeson to liken nigger riots to the boston tea party, it's obvious that private institutions are no less inherently corruptible than public ones. Plato's contention that children may benefit from separated from their parents during the education process still stands as reasonable on its face, and not necessarily communistic per se.
>>69552504
This is actually a problem I came to whilst reading it. How are we to keep a philosopher king always in power without them corrupting? How do we make sure that philosopher king after philosopher king we get a good one?
Marcus Aurelius, in my opinion, is the closest a man has come to being a philosopher king. Though, even his greatness did not rub off on his son, who can be included in the top ten worst Emperors....
>>69552187
>Implying Alexander actually paid attention to Aristotle.
>>69553623
it doesnt really matter if he did or didnt because his obsession in books and the arts was already ignited which makes him a philosopher king
>>69553402
To be able to recreate the personal experiences a philosopher king would experience. In an attempt to clarify it would mean that everything that sculpted marcus aurelius thinking to be fabricated for his son to experience the same events to become like his father
>>69553712
Nice.
I guess the guardians would act as a kind of safety net?
>>69553765
>>69553712
constitutional monarchy might attenuate some of the short comings of an unpredictable royal lineage
>>69553829
I see what you mean but I dont see a proper form of government that works if it doesnt actively seek to destroy corrupt behavior
Plato said it was the role of a philosopher to think of the best government, not whether it would be possible or not, as it's an artists role to paint the best picture regardless of if it's possible in real life.
So bear in mind Plato is not saying that his system of government could even be implemented, just that he thinks it's the best.
But yeah, I agree with him.
>>69550675
Came here to post this. But credit where it's due, at least Plato's fanboys didn't try to religiously apply the theory in its entirety to the real world, just the elements that they thought might actually work.
>>69550518
Have, read it
Marcus Aurelius's Meditations is far better in terms of a whole. The Republic jut shows you the world isn't black and white and that you can argue from any angle if you set your mind to it.
Doesn't matter though, Diogenes is the only philosopher you should care about
Only read the first 1/4, cbf with the rest at the moment. >>69550518
>>69552714
They were all real people he knew, he embellished a bit to get his points across but for the most part they were all legitimate conversations he had with sed people or discussed with his colleges over food.
You call it self fellating but that's only if you decided to not pay attention and had no desire to learn from the moment you opened the book.
Plato was a master lawyer in the best possible sense, take it for what it is and stop trying to pretend you're not a pompus idiot
>>69553402
>How are we to keep a philosopher king always in power without them corrupting?
Kill them once they start to show signs
Have him groom his replacement thinking it's for when he dies of old age
Rinse later repeat
>>69550518
anybody can make a """good government""" on paper if the people in your story obey their every command
