“What makes Kallipolis, with its philosopher-king, a utopian society?”
When placing Kallipolis in its time period it is clear to see that it is a better place than the one Plato is living in. The philosopher-king works tirelessly to understand the Forms, and in this pursuit of knowledge imitates the good that he learns. It is through his actions and work with the people of the city, his outstanding character eventually passes on to the rest of the society’s members. A city where justice prevails above all and the philosopher king works toward sharing his knowledge of the good creates a utopian society because it portrays a city where its people are working toward a common good.
The philosopher-king makes Kallipolis a utopian society because he stands as the moral high ground to which the people of the city model themselves after. Plato describes his philosopher-king as, “ As divine and orderly as a human being can” (p. 195, 500d). The role of the philosopher-king is to instill morals and improve the characters of the people of the city to help everyone become as divine as possible. This is utopian because it assumes that the people of the city will all want to comply with the philosopher-king instead of using their own free will. This idea of a lack of free will continues when Socrates says: “The law is not concerned with making any one class in the city do outstandingly well, but is contriving to produce this condition in the city as a whole, harmonizing the citizens together through persuasion or compulsion” (p.213, 519e). Plato believes that a utopia should simply be a better place at the sacrifice of some of its people’s happiness. By harmonizing the citizens through persuasion or compulsion the people of the city are ultimately used to help create a better utopian society even if they do not have a say in the matter.
A utopian society is one that is a better place but that is also no place. One of the points that Plato reiterates in Book 6 is that he is not speaking impossibilities but rather a society that is difficult to attain in its current state. Plato does not believe that his society is entirely utopian because to him it is attainable. However, to the reader it is clear that his philosopher-king model is utopian because it creates a society where its people all make the city a better place than it currently is. And in creating this better place where free will is ignored, this utopia becomes a no place.
Some good points and good use of evidence. Be sure you are faithful to the text and don’t misread the evidence. 4/5