Plato's Republic centers on defining justice and proving that it benefits the person who possesses it in the form of happiness. This is done through outlining a truly just city by analyzing what virtues would need to be present within it and hence the virtues required of the individuals residing within the city (Republic, 368-369). One key virtue that Plato emphasizes is that of moderation, which applies to all individuals within the city (399b). While some virtues such as wisdom, spirit, and temperance are designed for certain classes in Plato's Republic, Plato believes that they must be moderated by other virtues to result in a just society (400-403). Moderation is thus the central component in Plato's politics where all virtues are moderately ordered to create the just city directly correspond to the virtues that are moderately present in the soul of the individual.
[...] This is most accurately described in the analogy of the multi-headed beast that must be tamed by the farmer, which represents the multiple appetites of individuals that need to be suppressed or controlled within moderation where the individual “should make the lion's nature his ally, care for the community of all his parts, and bring them up in such a way that they will be friends with each other and with himself” (589-590). Thus not only are some appetites vicious like a lion, they should also be tamed and promoted as when they are under control, they play a benefiting role for the individual. [...]
[...] While Plato recognizes the physical training required of a military force, he also notes that in order for the auxiliaries to be a suitable military force, they must not be savage or brutal when dealing with each other or the citizens they are to protect (375). In order to moderate the level of physical training amongst the auxiliaries to impress gentler values that they would need to adopt, music and poetry would be implemented into their training. Since training and education of the guardians and auxiliaries would begin in childhood due to their mind's malleability, mental training in the form of philosophy and soothing the soul through music would occur prior to physical training (376e). [...]
[...] These differing values and desires would be harmonized through moderation by educating individuals in a variety of areas such as music, art, and poetry. Rationality for the rulers, courage for the defenders of the city, and moderation for the working class were recognized to be virtues that had to be maintained in order for stability within the city. It is when the moderate balance among these virtues is altered that regimes come to a decline. Justice within the soul and in turn within the city is achieved with moderation [...]
[...] in this ideal city as individuals are naturally competitive and not self-sufficient, which would require them to create a social contract amongst the three classes that would best defend the interests of the city (369b-c). This social contract involves the creation of a government, a military force along with a police force all for the security of the city. With the creation of the different classes, Plato asserts that virtue and happiness of the three classes require that their appetites be controlled within moderation. [...]
[...] In Plato's ideal state, that is the kallipolis, education is the means through which justice from the individual's soul transcends to the soul of the city thus good education and moderate upbringing will produce citizens who will improve from generation to generation (424). The decline of political regimes that Plato describes can be attributed to the lack of rationality in the city that was once present in ideal kallipolis, which was ruled by philosophers and rationally governed by the guardians. [...]
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