Paper Summary:

The paper examines in detail Plato's primary argument in "The Republic" that politics is a process best guided by a government of philosophers. The paper looks at Plato's beliefs on the qualities befitting a proper ruler and the nature of the public. The paper considers the value of Plato's work to modern discussions on government and concludes that even today, civic order and public representation are best served by one who has a sound philosophical grounding.

From the Paper:

"Therefore, we see that the deference which is shown toward philosophers is not done simply out of optimism with respect to human nature. In fact, much of Plato's argument works to establish a directly contrasting point concerning man's inevitability, when left unchecked, toward frailty and misdeed. This is to say that his idealism concerning a properly selected government is allowed by a more cynical regard for the base propensities of the public. As the Plato indicates of the civilized settlements of his time, "not one of them is worthy of the philosophic nature, and hence that nature is warped and estranged." (Plato, Book VI) Through Socrates, Plato laments that there does not exist a state in which the appropriate values for suitable governance are fostered in the selection of leadership, instead suggesting that man is himself to base a creature in the collective to endorse and allow the kind of leadership that is driven by philosophical investigation."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Annas, J. (1981). An Introduction to Plato's Republic. Oxford University Press.
• Plato. (360 B.C.E.) The Republic. The Internet Classics Archive. Online at http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html.
• Thunder, David. (1996). Friendship in Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics: An essential component of the Good Life. The Philosophy Site. Online at <http://www.nd.edu/~dthunder/Articles/Article4.html>

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