Is Plato's state a utopia? Plato's social utopia

Utopia Already in The Spirit of Utopia, Bloch outlined the area of \u200b\u200bhis philosophical quest. We are talking about a special spiritual attitude (identified with some living forms of consciousness, "gestalts") - a dialectically meaningful striving for the future. This attitude "philosopher

Architecture and Utopia 559. Alison, Jane; Brayer, Marie-Ange; Migayrou, Frederic and Neil Spiller. Future City: Experiment and Utopia in Architecture. London, 2007.560. Baudrillard, Jean et Violeau, Jean-Louis. A propos d'Utopie: Pr? C? D? de L'architecture dans la critique radicale. Paris, 2005.561. Bauer, Hermann. Kunst und Utopie. Studien? Ber Kunst– und Staatsdenken in der Renaissance. Berlin, 1965.562. Bek, Lisa. Towards Paradise on Earth: Modern Space Conception in

Introduction

Plato's utopia

Conclusion

List of used literature

Introduction

Only 9 years old Plato did not live to see the Battle of Chaeroneus and the Panhellenic Congress in Corinth, which meant the end of the political independence of Greece.

The new era was Hellenism, a period of large-scale slavery with its huge military-monarchical empires that swallowed up the old classical polis. Plato knew nothing about the impending great era. But, like all the principled people of his time, he frantically sought a way out of the socio-political relations that surrounded him. The way out for him was utopia.

Plato's utopia is one of the most famous in the history of political doctrines. It simultaneously presents a reflection of a number of real features of the states contemporary to Plato, for example, Egypt, and criticism of a number of shortcomings of Greek poleis, and recommends an ideal type of community instead of the rejected ones.

Marx showed that the source of the Platonic state was his observation of the general structure of Egypt. He also showed that Plato's ideal state was only an Athenian idealization of the Egyptian caste system.

1. Plato's utopia

Plato drew an ideal state led by philosophers, contemplators of pure and eternal ideas, which are protected by soldiers and to whom all vital resources are supplied by free farmers and artisans.

Plato considers justice to be the basic principle of an ideal state structure. This concept is filled with Plato's economic, political and social content.

As explained by Plato, justice assigns a special occupation and position to every citizen. The rule of justice unites the diverse and even heterogeneous parts of the state into a harmonious whole.

The best state system should have a number of features of moral, economic and political organization, which, in their connecting action, ensure the solution of the most important tasks. Such a state must have the strength of its own organization and the means of protecting it, sufficient to contain and repel the hostile environment, and secondly, it must carry out a systematic and sufficient supply of all members of society with the material benefits they need. Third, it should guide spiritual activity and creativity. Fulfillment of all these three tasks would mean the implementation of the "idea of \u200b\u200bgood" as the highest idea that rules the world.

In Plato's utopian state, the types of work necessary for society are divided between special categories of citizens, but on the whole form a harmonious combination.

Plato took the differences between individual groups of people according to their moral inclinations and properties as the basis for the distribution of citizens of the state by categories. However, Plato considered these differences by analogy with the division of productive labor. It is in the division of labor that Plato sees the foundation of the entire social and state system of his day.

At the same time, Plato's main idea is the assertion that the needs of the citizens that make up society are diverse, but the ability of each person to meet these needs is limited. "Each of us is not enough for himself and has a need for many." Hence, the need for the emergence of a hostel, or a city, is directly deduced: “When one of us accepts the others, either for one or another need, when, having a need in many things, we dispose to coexistence of many fellows and helpers - then this cohabitation gets our name cities".

It is characteristic of Plato that he considers the significance of the division of labor not from the point of view of the worker who produces the product, but exclusively from the point of view of consumers belonging to the class of slave owners. "The employee must adapt to the case, not the case to the employee."

In the division of labor, Plato sees not only the basis for the disintegration of society into estates, but also the basic principle of the structure of the state.

The main task of Plato's treatise on the state is the problem of a good and perfect life of society as a whole and its members.

The most perfect good has four main virtues:

1. Wisdom

2. Courage

3. Containment measure

4. Fairness

Plato understands wisdom as the highest knowledge, or the ability to give good advice when it comes to the state as a whole. Such knowledge is protective, and the rulers of the state possess this knowledge. Wisdom is a valor inherent in very few - philosophers - and it is not so much even a specialty in government as the contemplation of the heavenly realm of eternal and perfect ideas - valor, basically moral.

According to Plato, only under the rulers-philosophers the state will not know the evil reigning in it at present.

But in order to achieve prosperity, rulers should not be imaginary, but true philosophers: by them Plato means only "those who love to contemplate the truth."

The second valor is courage. It is also characteristic of only a small circle of persons, although in comparison with the wise there are more of these persons.

Unlike wisdom and courage, the third virtue of a perfect state, or a restraining measure, is no longer a quality of a special class, but a valor that belongs to all members of the state. Where it is present, all members of society recognize and observe the law adopted in a perfect state and the government existing in it, which restrains and dampens bad impulses. The restraining measure leads to a harmonious agreement between the best and the worst.

The fourth valor is justice. Its presence, its triumph in the state, is due to a deterrent measure. It is by virtue of justice that each class, each category in the state and each individual person receives for the execution and implementation of his own special work, for which his nature is most capable.

Plato's classical point of view, his social and political aristocracy, admiration for the Egyptian-type society with its caste stratum, with its characteristic difficult transition from one caste to another, were extremely vividly expressed in Plato's understanding of justice. In this concept, for Plato, there is nothing equalizing, smoothing or denying the differences of classes. Least of all Plato seeks to give citizens and classes of citizens the same rights. With all his might, he wants to protect his ideal state from the confusion of classes, from the fulfillment by citizens of one class of the duties and functions of citizens of another class. He directly characterizes justice as a valor that does not allow such confusion. The least trouble, in his opinion, would be the mixing or combination of different specialties within the class of workers in productive labor: if, for example, a carpenter would do the work of a shoemaker, and a shoemaker, the work of a carpenter, or if one of them wants to do both. But it would be worse, simply disastrous for the state, if some artisan or industrialist wanted to engage in military affairs, and a warrior, incapable and unprepared, would encroach on the management function, or if someone wanted to simultaneously perform all these matters.

Plato's utopia is one of the most famous in the history of political doctrines. It, like any utopia, simultaneously represents both a reflection of a number of real features of the states contemporary to Plato, for example, Egypt, and a criticism of a number of shortcomings of Greek poleis, and an ideal type of community recommended in place of the rejected ones.

The state of Plato is ruled, as in the oligarchy, by a few. But unlike the oligarchy, where neither the most gifted nor the best prepared can be rulers, in Plato's state only persons who are able to govern the state well can become rulers: first, by virtue of natural inclinations; secondly, due to many years of preliminary preparation.

Plato considers the basic principle of an ideal state structure justice... But how to decipher this abstract concept as applied to the state and to the activities of a citizen in society? Looking closely at this concept, we see how it is filled with Plato's economic, political and social content.

As explained by Plato, “justice” assigns a special occupation and a special position to every citizen of the state. The rule of "justice" brings together the diverse and even heterogeneous parts of the state into a harmonious whole.

The best state system should, according to Plato, possess a number of features of a moral, economic and political organization, which in their combined action would be able to provide the state with the solution of the most important problems. Such a state, firstly, must have the strength of its own organization and the means of its protection, sufficient to contain and repel the hostile environment; secondly, it must carry out a systematic and sufficient supply of all members of society with the material benefits they need; thirdly, it should guide spiritual activity and creativity. Fulfillment of all these three tasks would mean the implementation of the "idea of \u200b\u200bgood" as the highest idea that rules the world.

In Plato's utopian state, the types of work necessary for society are divided between special discharges citizens, but generally form a harmonious combination.

Plato took the differences between individual groups of people according to their moral inclinations and properties as the basis for the distribution of citizens of the state by categories. However, Plato considers these differences by analogy with the division of productive labor... It is in the division of labor that Plato sees the foundation of the entire social and state system of his day. He explores and origin existing specialization in society, and composition available in it industries.

Marx highly praised Plato's analysis of the division of labor. He directly calls “genius” for that time “the depiction of the division of labor by Plato as the natural basis of the city (which the Greeks were identical with the state)” (2, p. 239).

At the same time, Plato's main idea is to assert that the needs of citizens who make up society are varied, but the ability of each individual to meet these needs limited... "Each of us," says Plato, "is for himself, is insufficient and has a need for many" ( Plato, State, II, 369 B). Hence, the need for the emergence of a community, or “city”, is directly deduced: “When one of us accepts the others, either for this or that need; when, having a need in many things, we dispose to cohabitation of many fellows and helpers - then this cohabitation receives the name of a “city” ”(ibid., II, 369 C).

It is highly characteristic for Plato that he does not consider the significance of the division of labor in society from the point of view of employeewho manufactures the product, but exclusively from the point of view of consumers belonging to the Greek policy to the slave class... As explained by Marx, Plato's basic thesis is that "the worker must adapt to the work, and not the work to the worker" (1, p. 378). Each thing, according to Plato, is made easier, better and in greater quantities, "when one person, doing only one thing, does in accordance with his nature, at a favorable time, leaving all other occupations" ( Plato, State, II, 370 C).

This point of view, which Marx calls "the point of view of use value" (1, p. 378), leads Plato to the fact that in the division of labor he sees not only "the basis for the disintegration of society into estates" (ibid., P. 379), but also "the basic principle of the structure of the state" (ibid.).

What real the source of this view of Plato? Observation which societywhich one public was it really suggested or suggested to Plato?

Marx showed that the source of the Platonic state was his observations of the social order of modern Plato in Egypt, made by him during his stay in Egypt. Marx also showed that Plato's ideal state “is only an Athenian idealization of the Egyptian caste system; Egypt and for other authors, contemporaries of Plato ... was a model of an industrial country ... ”(ibid.).

In accordance with all that has been said, the rational structure of a perfect state, according to Plato, should be based primarily on needs. Plato immediately develops an enumeration of the basic needs necessary for life in society. In the city-state ("polis") there must be numerous, clearly differentiated branches of the social division of labor. It should include not only workers who procure food for citizens, builders of dwellings, manufacturers of clothing, footwear, but also workers who manufacture tools and tools of their special labor for all of them. In addition to them, manufacturers of all kinds of auxiliary work are also needed, for example, cattle breeders who deliver vehicles for the transport of people and goods, and extract wool and leather.

The need to import necessary products and goods from other countries requires production in the state surplus goods for foreign trade in them, as well as increasing the number of workers who manufacture the relevant goods.

In turn, developed trade requires the activity of intermediaries for the purchase and sale, for import and export. Thus, to the already considered categories of the division of labor, the same category necessary for the state is added merchants... The complication of the division of labor is not limited to this: there is a need for different categories of persons participating in transportation goods.

Trade, exchange of goods and products is necessary for the state not only for external intercourse, but also inside state. Hence Plato deduces the necessity market and coinage as units of exchange. In turn, the emergence of the market gives rise to a class of specialists in market operations: small traders and intermediaries, buyers and resellers.

Plato also considers a special category to be necessary serving employees who sell their services for a fee. Such "mercenaries" Plato calls people who "sell the utility of their power and call its price a wage" ( Plato, State, II, 371 E).

The indicated categories of specialized social labor exhaust the workers who produce the products necessary for the state or in one way or another contribute to production and consumption. All these ranks, taken together, constitute the lowest "class" of citizens in the hierarchy of Plato's ideal state.

It is striking that in Plato's theory of the division of labor and specialization there is no class, not even named slaves... But this is not surprising. Plato's project considers the division of labor in the state only between its free citizens. Plato "did not forget" could not forget about slavery. Slavery is simply taken out of the brackets - as an assumed, self-evident prerequisite, as a condition for the activity of the free part of society and the differentiation of free labor necessary for it.

Above the "class" of workers, or "artisans," divided by branches of specialized labor, in Plato, there are higher "classes" - warriors ("Guards") and rulers.

The need for specialists in military affairs is very important for the life and well-being of society. But this is no longer a category among other categories of workers. This is a special, higher in comparison with artisans part of society, special, as we would say now, class... Highlighting warriors in special the branch of the social division of labor is necessary, according to Plato, not only because of the importance of their profession, but also because of its special difficulty, which requires special attention, and technical skill, and special knowledge, special experience.

In the transition from the class of workers of productive labor to the class of warriors ("guards"), one cannot fail to notice that Plato violates the principle of division. When he talks about the lower class of producing workers, he characterizes the differences between the individual categories of this class. by the differences in their professional functions... It is assumed that with respect to moral damn all these categories are at the same level: farmers, and artisans, and merchants.

Another thing warriors ("Guards") and rulers (philosophers). For warriors and rulers, the need to separate from the groups of workers serving the economy is no longer based on their professional features, but their differences moral qualities from the moral properties of workers in the economic sphere. Namely, the moral traits of the workers of the economy Plato puts fundamentally below the moral merits of the soldiers ("guards") and especially representatives third, higher class of citizens - rulers state.

This violation of the principle of division in Plato's doctrine of the difference between classes of the ideal state was noted in the excellent work of V. Ya. Zheleznov "The Economic Worldview of the Ancient Greeks" (13, p. 99).

However, the moral underestimation of the working people is somewhat concealed in Plato's clause, according to which all three classes of citizens are equally necessary for an ideal state and, taken all together, are great and beautiful.

Even more important is another Plato clause, which softens the harshness of the aristocratic points of view. This reservation consists in the recognition that between the origin of a person from one class or another and his moral and intellectual properties there is no necessary connections: people endowed with the highest moral and mental inclinations can be born in inferior social class, and, conversely, those born of citizens of both upper classes may find themselves with low souls.

The possibility of such a discrepancy clearly threatens the harmony of the state system. Therefore, among the responsibilities rulers, according to Plato, includes the duty and the right to explore the moral inclinations of children and distribute them (and, if necessary, redistribute) between the three main classes of the state.

If the soul of the newly born turns out to be, according to Plato's figurative expression, "copper" or "iron", then, in whatever class he was born, he should be driven out to the farmers and artisans without any regret or condescension. But if a baby is born to artisans with an admixture of "gold" or "silver" in the soul, then, depending on the dignity it finds in it, the newly born should be ranked either as a ruler or as a warrior (guardian).

Typical for Plato (and later for his student Aristotle), as for a scholarly slave-owning society, a purely "consumer" view of productive labor resulted in an amazing space in further analyzes and constructions of his utopia. For Plato it was important to strictly separate the "upper" classes from the lower. As for the question of how workers of specialized labor should be prepared for the qualified performance of their functions, Plato does not enter into its details. All his attention is focused on the education of warriors ("guards") and on the determination of those conditions of their activity and existence, which would consolidate the properties generated in them by education.

Lack of interest in the study of specialized labor did not prevent Plato from characterizing its structure extremely fully from the point of view of the interests of society as a whole. This was due to the importance that Plato attaches to the principle of the performance by each category of workers of its special function.

However, from Plato's point of view, the significance of the social division of labor consists only in the fact that it confirms the thesis about the exceptional importance of restriction and regulation: in the moral sense, each category of specialized labor should be focused on "doing one's own thing." The main task of Plato's treatise on the state is the problem of a good and perfect life of society as a whole and its members.

The most perfect good state possesses, as Plato claims, four main virtues: 1) wisdom, 2) courage, 3) restraining measure and 4) justice.

By wisdom, Plato does not understand any technical knowledge or skill, but the highest knowledge, or the ability to give good advice when it comes to the state as a whole. Such knowledge is “protective”, and the rulers of the state possessing this knowledge are “perfect guards”. "Wisdom" is a valor inherent in very few - philosophers - and it is not so much even a specialty in state leadership as contemplation of the heavenly realm of eternal and perfect "ideas" - valor, basically moral ( Plato, State, IV, 428 B-A).

As Plato asserts, only under the rulers-philosophers the state will not know the evil reigning in it at the present time: “Until philosophers reign in the cities, or the present kings and rulers sincerely and satisfactorily philosophize, until the state power and philosophy coincide into one ... until then there is no end to evil neither for states, nor even, I believe, for the human race ”( Plato, State, V, 473 D).

But to achieve prosperity, rulers should not be imaginary, but true philosophers: by them Plato means only “those who love to contemplate the truth” (ibid., V, 475 E).

The second the valor possessed by the best state in its structure is “courage” (andreia). It, like "wisdom", is characteristic of only a small circle of persons, although in comparison with the wise there are more of these persons.

In contrast to "wisdom" and "courage" third the valor of a perfect state, or "restraining measure" (sophrosyne), is no longer a quality special class, but a valor that belongs to all members of the best state. Where it is present all members of society recognize and observe the law adopted in a perfect state and the government existing in it, which restrains and calms bad impulses. "Restraining measure" leads to a harmonious agreement of the best and worst sides "( Plato, State, IV, 430 D-A).

Fourth the valor of a perfect state is "justice" (dicaiosyne). Its presence, its triumph in the state is prepared and conditioned by a "restraining measure." It is precisely by virtue of "justice" that each class, each category in the state and each individual person, endowed with a certain ability, receives his own special work for execution and implementation. “We assumed,” explains Plato, “that out of the affairs of the city, each citizen should produce only that which his nature is most capable of” (ibid., IV, 433 A). All of the above three virtues “compete with the desire in the state for everyone to do his own thing”: the ability of everyone to do his own thing fights for the virtue of the city with its wisdom, restraining measure and courage (ibid. IV, 433 D).

Plato's class point of view, his social and political aristocracy, admiration for the Egyptian-type society with its caste system, with its characteristic difficult transition from one caste to another, were extremely vividly expressed in Plato's understanding of “justice”. In this concept, for Plato, there is nothing equalizing, smoothing or denying the differences of classes. Least of all Plato seeks to give citizens and classes of citizens the same rights. With all his might, he wants to protect his ideal state from the confusion of classes, from the fulfillment by citizens of one class of the duties and functions of citizens of another class. He directly characterizes "justice" as a valor that does not allow such confusion.

The least trouble, in his opinion, would be the mixing or combination of different specialties within the class of workers in productive labor: if, for example, a carpenter starts doing the work of a shoemaker, and a shoemaker does the work of a carpenter, or if one of them wants to do both.

But it would be already, according to Plato, directly disastrous for the state, if some artisan or industrialist, proud of his wealth or power, wanted to engage in military affairs, and a warrior, incapable and unprepared to be an adviser and leader of the state, would encroach on the control function or if someone wanted to simultaneously do all these things ( Plato, State, IV, 434 A-B).

Even in the presence of the first three types of valor, much work and mutual exchange of occupations cause the greatest harm to the state and therefore "can very correctly be called an atrocity" (cacoyrgia) (ibid., IV, 434 C), "the greatest injustice against one's city" ( Plato, State, IV, 434 C). And vice versa, "doing one's own thing" (oiceopragia) in all three types of activities necessary for the state "will be the opposite of that injustice - it will be justice and make the city just" ( Plato, State, IV, 434 C).

5. Social utopia of Plato.

To understand Plato, you need to have some knowledge of Sparta. Sparta had a double influence on Greek philosophy: through its reality and through myth. Both are important. According to the state structure of Sparta, there should have been no needy or rich. It was believed that everyone should live on products from their site, which he could not alienate, with the exception of the right to donate it. No one was allowed to have gold or silver; money was made of iron. Spartan simplicity has become a proverb.

The state structure of Sparta was complex. There were two kings, belonging to two different families, and their power was inherited. One of the kings commanded the army during the war, but during the peace their power was limited. The kings were members of the council of elders. The Council of Elders decided criminal cases and prepared issues for consideration at the meeting. The assembly consisted of all citizens; it could not show initiative in anything, but could vote "for" or "against" on any proposal made. No law could come into force without the consent of the assembly. Elders and officials had to announce their decision for the law to be valid.

In addition to the kings, the council of elders, and the congregation, there was a fourth branch of government that was unique to Sparta. These were five ephors. Ephors were a "democratic" element in the state structure of Sparta. Every month the kings took an oath that they would support the state system of Sparta, and the ephors then vowed to support the kings as long as they were true to their oath. When one of the kings went to war, he was accompanied by two ephors to observe his behavior. The Ephors were the highest civil court, but they had criminal jurisdiction over the kings.

The only occupation of a citizen of Sparta was war, for which he was prepared from birth. Sick children, after being examined by the elders, were killed; it was allowed to bring up only those children who were recognized as healthy. All boys were taught in one large school until the age of twenty; the aim of the training was to make them courageous, indifferent to pain and disciplined. In Sparta, there was no nonsense about cultural or scientific education; the sole purpose was to prepare good soldiers who were completely devoted to the state.

The girls received the same physical training as the boys. “Girls had to run, fight, throw a disc, throw spears to strengthen their bodies, so that their future children were strong in body in the very womb of their healthy mother, so that their development was correct and so that mothers themselves could be relieved of the burden successfully and easily due to the strength of their body ... ". Women were not allowed to show any emotions that were disadvantageous to the state. They could express contempt for the coward and were praised if it was their son; but they could not show their grief if their newborn child was sentenced to death as weak or if their sons were killed in battle. The rest of the Greeks considered the Spartans extremely chaste. At the same time, a childless married woman should not have objected if the state ordered her to check whether any other man would be more successful than her husband in producing new citizens. The legislation encouraged the birth of children.

One of the reasons other Greeks admired Sparta was its stability. The Spartan state structure remained unchanged for centuries, except for the gradual increase in the power of the Ephors, which happened in a legal way, without violence. It cannot be denied that for a long period of time the Spartans were successful in achieving their main goal - in the education of the people of invincible warriors.

The influence of Sparta on Plato is quite evident from the description of his Utopia. There are forms of government in which, according to Plato, laws operate. This is a monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. But there are also forms where laws are violated and not enforced. This is tyranny, oligarchy. Plato was deeply disappointed with the collapse of ancient society and the policies of the existing authorities. Therefore, he creates a kind of utopia about the best state structure.

Plato's most important dialogue, The State, has three parts. The first part discusses the question of building an ideal state. In the dialogue "State", he divides people into three classes. The lowest are peasants, artisans, merchants who provide the material needs of people. The second estate is made up of guards (warriors). Philosophers rule. This is the upper class in Plato's utopia. The transition from one estate to another is almost impossible. It turns out that some people only manage, others only protect and protect, and still others only work. For Plato, living in a slave state, the existence of slavery is natural.

One of the conclusions drawn in this part is that rulers must be philosophers, must have political power. There should be considerably fewer guards than people of the first two classes.

The main problem, according to Plato, is ensuring that the guards carry out the intentions of the legislator. To this end, he makes various proposals regarding education, economics, biology and religion. Until a certain age, young people should not see unpleasant things or vice. But at the appropriate moment they should be subjected to "seduction", both in the form of horrors, which should not frighten, and in the form of bad pleasures, which should not seduce. When they pass these tests, they will be considered fit to become guardians.

The guards should have small houses, and eat simple food; they should live as in a camp, dining in common canteens; they should not have private property other than what is absolutely necessary. Gold and silver should be banned. The entire routine and framework of the life of the guards is aimed at protecting them from the destructive influence of personal property and, first of all, from the evil, pernicious influence of money, gold and other precious metals. Everything that soldiers need to fulfill their duties, they must receive from those who manufacture products, things and tools of productive labor workers, and, moreover, in an amount that is neither too small nor too large. Warriors can use only what is minimally necessary for life, for health and for the performance of their functions in the state. Although they are not rich, nothing prevents them from being happy; the aim of the city is the happiness of the whole city, not the happiness of one class. Both wealth and poverty are harmful, and in the city of Plato there will be neither one nor the other. There is an interesting argument about war: it will be easy to acquire allies, since such a city will not want to take any share of the war booty.

Women should have full equality with men in all respects. An equal upbringing that makes men good guardians will make women good guardians. "In relation to the protection of the state, the nature of women and men is the same ...". “The forces of nature are equally diffused in both living beings: by nature, both the woman and the man are involved in all affairs; but a woman is weaker than a man in everything. "From the ability of women along with men to be in the rank, or class, of guards, Plato deduces that the best wives for male guards will be precisely the female guards. Undoubtedly, there are differences between men and women, but they are not have nothing to do with politics.Some women are philosophical and fit as guardians, some of the women are warlike and could be good warriors.

The legislator, having chosen some men and women as guardians, will order them to live in common houses and eat at a common table. Due to the constant meetings of men and women warriors for general gymnastic and military exercises, as well as for common meals between men and women, a mutually quite natural attraction will constantly arise. However, in a city - a military camp, which is the ideal state of Plato, it is not a family that is possible, but only a union of a man with a woman for the birth of children. This is also a "marriage", but a kind, not capable of leading to the formation of a family. These "marriages" are secretly directed and arranged by the rulers of the state, who strive to combine the best with the best, and the worst with the worst.

The marriage will be radically transformed. At some festivals, brides and grooms will be united, as they are taught to believe, ostensibly by lot in the number necessary to maintain a constant population; but in reality the rulers of the city will manipulate lots based on eugenic principles. "All these women should be common to all these men, not one should live in private with any one." They will arrange for the best producers to have the most children. All male guards are considered the fathers of all children, and all women are the common wives of all guards.

All children will be taken away from their parents after birth, and serious precautions will be taken so that parents do not know which children are their children, and children should not know who their parents are. After some time, young mothers are allowed to feed their babies, but at this time they no longer know which children were born by them and which ones by other women. Since the child does not know who his parents are, he must call “father” every man who, by age, could be his father; this also applies to "mother", "brother", "sister".

Children with disabilities and children of the worst parents "will be hidden properly in a secret and unknown place." Children born of unions not sanctioned by the state should be considered illegal. Mothers must be between the ages of twenty and forty, fathers must be between twenty-five and fifty-five. Outside this age, communication between the sexes should be free, but abortion or infanticide are mandatory. Stakeholders have no right to object to "marriages" arranged by the state; they should be guided by the thought of their duty to the State, and not by any ordinary sentiments that exiled poets usually glorified.

It is assumed that the feelings currently associated with the words "father", "mother", "son" and "daughter" will still be associated with them under the new orders established by Plato; for example, a young man will not hit an old man because that old man might be his father.

The main idea is, of course, to minimize private ownership feelings and thus remove obstacles to the dominance of the public spirit, as well as to ensure tacit acceptance of the absence of private property.

In the developed Plato's project - utopia - the moral principle is put forward to the fore. In Plato's theory of the state, morality not only corresponds to the philosophical idealism of Plato's system. Being idealistic, morality becomes ascetic.

It is fair that everyone does his own work and does not interfere in other people's affairs: the city is just when the merchant, mercenary and guard - each does his own work, without interfering with the work of other classes. The first definition of "justice", proposed at the beginning of "The State", says that it consists in the payment of debts. The justice, as Plato says, is that each person does his own job. His work must be determined either according to his own tastes or on the basis of the state's judgment of his abilities. But some types of work, while requiring high skill, can be considered harmful. Therefore, it is an important task for the government to determine what a person's job is. Despite the fact that all rulers should be philosophers, there should be no innovations: a philosopher should always be a person who understands Plato and agrees with him.

The organizers of the best state (that is, the rulers-philosophers) must not only take care of the correct education of the guard-soldiers. In addition, they must establish an order in which the very arrangement of dwellings and the very rights to property benefits could not become an obstacle either to the high moral life of soldiers, or to the performance of their service, or to their proper attitude towards people of their own and other classes of society. ... The main features of this order are the deprivation of soldiers of the right to their own property.

For Plato, the implementation of this postulate means the achievement of the highest form of unity in the state. The community of wives and children, in the class of the guardians of the state, completes what was begun by the community of property, and therefore there is for the state the reason for its highest good: "Do we have any greater evil for the state than that which separates it and makes it many states, instead of one, or more good than that which binds it and makes it one? " Any difference in feelings destroys the unity of the state. This happens “when in the state some say:“ this is mine, ”and others“ this is not mine. ”On the contrary, in a perfect state,“ most people in relation to the same say in the same way: “this is mine,” or "that's not mine".

The common property, the absence of personal property, the impossibility of its emergence, preservation and increase makes it impossible for the emergence of judicial property litigation and mutual accusations. The absence of strife within the warrior-guardian class will, in turn, make it impossible for any strife within the lower class of workers, nor their rebellion against both upper classes.

Plato depicts in the most rosy colors the blissful life of the classes of this society, especially the warrior-guards. Their life is more beautiful than the life of the winners in the Olympic competitions. And this is understandable. The victory of the guards is the salvation of the entire state. The content they receive as payment for their public safety work is given to themselves and to their children. Honored during life, they are honored by the state with an honorable burial after death.

The second extensive project of the transformed state was the project developed by Plato in "Laws". In comparison with the state depicted in Polity, it is less perfect, and its author is more lenient or more realistic, more inclined to yield to the inevitable weaknesses and shortcomings of the human race. An important difference between the "Laws" and the "State" ("Polity") is in the interpretation of the question of slaves. The draft "State" does not envisage the class of slaves, as one of the main classes of an ideal society. Complete denial of personal property for rulers and guards excludes the possibility of owning slaves. However, in the "State" in some places it is said about the right to turn the defeated in the war into slaves. In the "Laws", in contrast to the "State", the economic activity necessary for the existence of the policy is assigned to slaves or to foreigners. The insignificance of slavery in the utopia of the "State" is emphasized by another circumstance. Since, according to the "State", the only source of slavery is the conversion of prisoners of war into slaves, the number of slaves should obviously depend on the intensity and frequency of wars waged by the state. But, according to Plato, war is an evil that should be avoided in a well-organized state. "All wars," says Plato in Phaedo, "are kindled for the sake of acquiring property." Only a society that wants to live in luxury soon becomes cramped on its land, and it is forced to strive for the violent seizure of land from its neighbors. And only to protect the state from the aggression of people overwhelmed by a passion for material acquisitions, it has to keep a large army trained in military affairs.

The war in "Laws" is especially strongly condemned. Here war as the goal of the state is rejected. He argues that the organizer of a perfect state and its legislator should not establish laws concerning peace "for the sake of military action", but, on the contrary, "laws concerning war, for the sake of peace".

There are a number of features in Plato's utopia that, at first glance, seem extremely modern. This is the denial of personal property for the class of guard warriors, the organization of their supply and nutrition, harsh criticism of the acquisitiveness of money, gold and values \u200b\u200bin general, criticism of trade and commercial speculation, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe need for an inviolable unity of society and complete unanimity of all its members, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe need for education in citizens of moral qualities that can lead them to this unity and like-mindedness.

Plato linked the feasibility of his projects with one most important condition: when true philosophers will become the rulers of the state. But, as his experience showed, it is difficult for philosophers to combine their activity with life in a state tainted by vices, and it, in turn, rejects them. If we ask: what will Plato's state achieve? - the answer will be pretty commonplace. It will succeed in wars against states with approximately equal populations and provide livelihoods for a small number of people. By virtue of its inertia, it almost, probably, will not create either art or science. In this respect, as well as in others, it will be like Sparta. Despite all the beautiful words, all it will achieve is the ability to fight and enough food. Plato believed that the best that the art of government can achieve is to avoid such evils as hunger and military defeat.

Any utopia, if seriously conceived, must obviously embody the ideals of its creator. The ancient Greek philosopher is essentially trying to restore the classical polis. In his utopia, everything is sacrificed to the idea, in this society there is no movement, no development.

Plato is convinced that good exists and that its nature can be comprehended. When people disagree on this, one at least commits an intellectual error, just as in the case of scientific disagreement over some question of fact.

Plato's state, in contrast to modern utopias, was conceived in order to put it into practice. Many of his assumptions were actually implemented in Sparta. Pythagoras tried to exercise the rule of philosophers, and during Plato's time, the Pythagorean Archytas enjoyed political influence in Taras (modern Taranto) when Plato visited Sicily and southern Italy. It was common practice for cities to use a sage to create their own laws. Solon did this for Athens, and Protagoras for Furies. In those days, the colonies were completely free from the control of their metropolitan cities, and a group of Platonists could well have established the state of Plato on the shores of Spain or Gaul. Unfortunately, fate brought Plato to Syracuse, a large trading city that was occupied with hopeless wars with Carthage; in such an environment, no philosopher could achieve much. In the next generation, the rise of Macedonia made all small states obsolete, and all political experiments in miniature completely sterile.

The ideal state of Plato amazes with the meticulous regulation of all moments of human life. This is a barracks state. Plato naively believed that his ideal state would help overcome those imperfect forms of government that he observed in ancient society.

Plato was an opponent of democracy. He did not like timocracy, oligarchy, tyranny either. He believed that they perverted the ideas of an ideal state. Under such forms of government, the state is, as it were, divided into two hostile camps - the poor and the rich. According to Plato, private property introduces discord, violence, coercion, greed into the environment of citizens.

Plato believed that his ideal state overcomes all the imperfections of previous reigns. A person has three principles that overpower him: philosophical, ambitious and money-loving. Therefore, not everyone can manage the state, but only the one who cares more about truth and knowledge. In Plato's utopian state, philosophers, sages rule. Law prevails everywhere, everyone obeys it. If someone breaks the law, they are punished. The ruler has the right "to sentence one to death, another to beatings and prison, the third to deprivation of civil rights, and punish others by confiscating property into the treasury and exile."

Religion and morality in this state follows more from the law than from faith in God. It is a state in which there is a violent land equation. People are divided into categories according to the division of social labor. Some get food for citizens, others build dwellings, others make tools, still others are engaged in transportation, fifths trade, sixth serve citizens of an ideal state. Plato does not take into account the slaves, since for him they are a given, which Plato does not dispute. This ideal state is ruled by sages who are specially trained and prepared for such activities.

These are the basic ideas of Plato's social utopia, which has been called the harbinger of utopian socialism. Although Plato's ideas about the state were revised more than once in the history of philosophy, they nourished many philosophical reflections and influenced the political organization of society for subsequent generations. And his idea of \u200b\u200bthe advantage of the general interest over the particular was further developed in subsequent philosophical teachings.

There is something common to all these items. Plato's doctrine of the "idea" of the good as the highest "idea" is extremely important for the entire system of his worldview. This teaching imparts to the philosophy of Plato the character not only of objective idealism, but also of teleological idealism. Teleology is the doctrine of expediency. Since, according to Plato, the “idea” of the good dominates over everything, then, in other words, this ...

Eros: he also seeks to achieve good, he is neither wise nor ignorant, but is an intermediary between one and the other, he does not have beauty and good, and that is why he strives for them. We will dwell on the spiritual foundations of love in Plato's philosophy in more detail in the next chapter. Thus, both philosophy and love enable the birth of something beautiful: from creating beautiful things to ...