Republic RR Book 3 PDF

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Summary

My reading response for Book 3 reading of Plato's The Republic....

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The myth Socrates is the Myth of Metals. He tells this myth to explain to Glaucon how they might be able to create a system in their imaginary city that would make it so the people, especially the guardians, would feel very connected to their city and the purposes they’ve been given, and therefore feel very strongly about protecting their city. His plan was to explain to the new citizens that they were born from the Earth, and the gods have mixed a metal into each of them, giving them divine treatment. Each person has either gold, silver, or iron/bronze, and there are duties that go with each-- gold to guard, silver as the auxiliary, and iron/bronze are the craftsmen. They are obligated to follow through with these duties and serve their city and the Earth mother they were born from. I did find this plan quite contradictory. My first thought was “how can you build a city of nobility, honor, and truth if it was all built on a lie, even if the lie was for a good reason? Their purposes were built on a lie, and it’s almost certain that this could eventually become clear in one way or another. It’s obviously just a very contradictory concept, based on what these philosophers are trying to create. I’m fairly certain the guardians would not approve of this lie, especially the part about selection for jobs. It makes little sense to limit people simply based on who they were birthed by. Why not let a potential guardian show their strength and potential? You don’t want to be using less than ideal people to guard your cities. It makes more sense to let people find their own interests and their way in life-- it is likely that they will be happier and more satisfied. I’m sure there’s some situation where lying actually makes sense, but in this case it does not. Small lies that do not have a big, lasting impact can really do some amount

of good sometimes-- preventing hurt feelings (which could lead to violent action otherwise), keeping good secrets, etc. You have to really consider if it makes sense in that situation, and whether it really lines up with what you’re trying to accomplish overall. Founding an entire city on a lie as big as this one feels like an unstable raft waiting to tip over. It could take the smallest big of information or smallest rebellion to upset the whole balance. And who’s to say these people are going to believe this lie and want to follow it anyways, even in further generations? It may have been different back in the day, I’m not entirely sure, but people aren’t necessarily going to grow up believing everything their parents or grandparents tell them. There’s just far too much room for error. My one uncertainty is that I am not sure there is a more efficient and effective way to create a perfect or nearly perfect city. It would take a great deal of thinking to come up with a viable alternative....