Kyle Sheehan

FYS 100 Section 50 – Social Utopias

Dr. Watts

September 14, 2015

Q: What makes Kallipolis, with its philosopher-king, a utopian society?

Kallipolis, although initially created to prove the worth of justice, becomes an ideal, harmonious, utopian society. The “Just City”, as Plato has pointed out, embodies and upholds temperance, courage, wisdom and justice (Republic p119). The philosopher-king is the ideal of a perfect, near divine, ruler. Therefore, with his mastery of the city, Kallipolis can be nothing less than a utopia.

Through the use of specialization, each individual does what he or she is best suited to do. By this method, each individual is not working solely for the betterment of himself, but for the betterment of the city as a whole. The class system divides individuals into the roles for which they are best suited, thus creating an efficient, unified system. Plato, in attempt to further better this utopian society, declares that it must be ruled by philosophers. Socrates explains,

Until philosophers rule as kings in their cities, or those who are nowadays called kings and leading men become genuine and adequate philosophers, so that political power and philosophy become thoroughly blended together, while the numerous natures that now pursue either one exclusively are compelled not to do so, cities will have no rest from evils, my dear Glaucon, nor, I think, will the human race. (Republic p166 line 473d)

Despite Glaucon’s astonishment at this claim, Socrates is able to support it well. He defends this claim by defining the philosophers whom he deems fit to rule. These philosophers, the ones that Socrates considers “true”, are lovers of seeing the truth (Republic p169 line 475e). He goes on to explain that these “true philosophers” are lovers of wisdom and knowledge, as opposed to lovers of belief (Republic p175 line 480a). Philosophers, being that they only strive towards the truth, will not tolerate any falsehood. Since they are always seeking the ultimate truth and primarily controlled by the rational part of their soul, they rarely will commit false acts (republic p178). The true philosopher must look at orderly and rational things and try to be as like them as possible. Socrates explains: “Then the philosopher, by associating with what is orderly and divine, becomes as divine and orderly as a human being can” (Republic p194 line 500c). Essentially, he will become the human ideal of popular virtue. Now that philosophers have been defined as near divine individuals, no one would be angered by the assumption that they are most fit to rule. Socrates himself recognizes that finding such individuals must be a rare occurrence. However, he defends his claim by stating that they only need one such philosopher, not many (Republic p196 line 502b). Providing that they do find this true philosopher and the people obey him, the philosopher now has mastery of the city. As ruler, he will establish the laws, regulations and practices within the city. The philosopher-king is always striving towards the truth and therefore his laws and practices will be based off of the truth. With such a nearly infallible ruler in power, Kallipolis has no alternative to being a utopian society.

Works Cited

Plato, and C.D.C. Reeve. The Republic. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2004. Print