Tuesday, July 9, 2013

On Plato's Republic

Recently, we were asked to research on the ideals and political philosophies of many great thinkers. Upon learning of Plato's The Republic, I was able to relate myself in one of it's parts, the section tackling a propsed "tripartite class structure". I cite below an excerpt from the Wikipedia article of Plato. Sensya na, nagmamadali. It says:


Plato, through the words of Socrates, asserts that societies have a tripartite class structure corresponding to the appetite/spirit/reason structure of the individual soul. The appetite/spirit/reason stand for different parts of the body. The body parts symbolize the castes of society.

  • Productive, which represents the abdomen. (Workers) — the labourers, carpenters, plumbers, masons, merchants, farmers, ranchers, etc. These correspond to the "appetite" part of the soul.
  • Protective, which represents the chest. (Warriors or Guardians) — those who are adventurous, strong and brave; in the armed forces. These correspond to the "spirit" part of the soul.
  • Governing, which represents the head. (Rulers or Philosopher Kings) — those who are intelligent, rational, self-controlled, in love with wisdom, well suited to make decisions for the community. These correspond to the "reason" part of the soul and are very few.


I believe that I should be part of the governing caste, not because I'm boasting that I'm smart and all that, (no I'm not), but I believe that I love wisdom enough to be part of the "reason" section of the soul. I may not be decisive in some occasions due to some of my psychological backlogs but I believe my ideas (some, if not all) could save this world from Climate Change.

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