Plato is an ancient philosopher whose works are timeless. Plato, in The Republic, explains in great detail, his belief in politics and what makes a good ruler a successful and respected leader. In this essay, I talk about Plato’s belief in meritocracy and the four cardinal virtues of wisdom, courage, self-control, and justice. We can learn from these ideas in today time as we vote for individuals, we should look at the virtues of the canidates and the skill and intelligence that the canidates hold. We can learn a lot from Plato’s politcs and can and should implement some of these into our assesment of canidates today.
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Plato’s narratives, such as The Republic, offer a lot of insight on politics. There is much to learn from his viewpoints, namely his proposal of meritocracy and the four cardinal virtues of an individual. In this paper I will explain Plato’s use of meritocracy and why critics of Plato that say meritocracy is not true democracy or does not truly work are wrong. I will end with how the four cardinal virtues of wisdom, courage, self-control, and justice contribute to politics through the individuals, rulers, and governments to develop a responsible and ethical society.
Book one of Plato’s The Republic shows Plato’s view on multiple political points. He asks many questions throughout the dialogue between Thrasymachus and Socrates. Plato believes that the very nature of ethics is made up by those that are in power. This belief of his is important to understand how ethics evolves throughout time to incorporate multiple beliefs. People in power have a huge amount of responsibility that affects the average person. Citizens should understand this in today’s time as they Plato did in his. Although it does not seem like this is an important deal, it should be of consideration in politics that those in power will and can still change how we view ethics today.
Plato writes in Book III of the selection process of state rulers. Although Plato’s view is slightly different regarding selection of political rulers than today’s society, there are several similarities that a lot of people may feel are relevant even to politics in this day and age. The clearest view of Plato occurs in a philosophy called meritocracy. This thought on politics is that those elected into power are elected because they possess great talents and skills that allow them to excel in whatever their specialty is. This mastery of skill is what a citizen would look up to in a ruler.
Meritocracy is still relevant today. There are some, however, that say meritocracy is not true democracy. They claim that people are put into power based solely off their skill set. They claim we do not really vote for anyone rather the particular skill of someone. It is safe to say that in some form, citizens will vote for the candidate they believe possesses the necessary skills to handle situations that may occur during their time in office. In a sense they choose a politician on merit. While this may not be the true definition of meritocracy, the principle remains the same because this is the founding ideal that we, as citizens, would vote in the best possible candidate. The individual would have the best skills and traits to hold a position of authority and lead a country. Other individuals believe that meritocracy does not work. This objection seems absurd. The most logical belief is that any individual that is in a position of authority or that has built a successful business are individuals that are intelligent or skilled in what they do. Do humans not go to trainings or prepare themselves to be successful for their jobs? We train ourselves to be more successful. If this is true, then why would someone believe that meritocracy would not work? There must be some meritocracy when electing officials. A citizen would not vote for a person if they did not believe they possessed the required skills to uphold the office which they were running for.
Politics reflect meritocracy in other places beside candidates. It can be argued that America’s military system reflects meritocracy. The promotion of individuals is based off the principle that the individual shows the required skill set and talent to gain more responsibility. A general in the military is considered an expert in war by many. Additionally, these experts may have been assigned to a specific type of job that they were even more additionally equipped to handle. Our system is set up to have civilians in charge of our military or certain big agency departments. Looking through history, our presidents have chosen cabinet heads mostly based on experience. They would like the most qualified to advise them in these subjects. Although true meritocracy in sense that skill and talent be the only consideration in picking rulers and leaders is not present today, the thought of meritocracy where skill and talent be of somewhat the most important is still present. Other considerations for politics are Plato’s thought on justice and what makes individuals and governments just.
Plato sees that there is more to politics and ethics than just skill set. As he discusses throughout his book The Republic, justice and the very nature of what is just and unjust is very important in ethical politics. As said before, there is more to electing a candidate in today’s political theater than just skills and talents. A candidate’s character is sometimes more important or can carry a heavy burden on a candidate. It then asks the question to us, “What makes a leader with good character?” Plato touches this a little in Book II of The Republic but covers it more in Book III. Plato shapes this into structures for both the individual and the state. There should be a balance that determines someone’s position in government. Virtues such as wisdom, courage, self-control, and justice are the relevant virtues that rulers should have. Having such virtues would lead to a good ruler. This ruler would be a just guy given these virtues. These four cardinals are the main virtues in a leader and just individuals.
Today’s politics show a lot of people missing some of these virtues but also shows how Plato’s views once again can teach us how our political system maybe somewhat unethical. Many elected officials lack, or seem to lack, some or most of these virtues. The officials in politics that seem to have these virtues are not seen on the front-page of media. Instead, officials that lack or seem to lack wisdom, courage, self-control, or justice are all over the news. Is this because media knows that those who lack virtues are more interesting? What does this truly say about ethics in our society? It seems that we don’t care to hear about virtues, rather people who lack virtues. However, politicians will attack an opponent’s lack of virtues first in debates. Plato tells us the virtues humans should have and instead of focusing on people that don’t have these virtues, we should instead be focusing on individuals with these good virtues.
Plato thought long and hard about many of the problems of his time. Topics such as justice, courage, wisdom, and ethics in general are still of significant use in today’s political world. America’s s system was designed to pick our rulers in the best, most just way possible, but it is failing in several ways. The beliefs of Plato in his book The Republic could teach our society several things about politics that humans seem to forget when trying to voice their opinion. Although several ideas of Plato’s could be argued in a multitude of ways, the foundation of what Plato is saying throughout his book would make many people of today’s society ponder. Plato highlights the facts that ethics in our world is formed by those with power. He makes several inferences to how ethics is important to the political world and how this power they hold can shape politics. In addition to their power, it is important to understand how and why certain people elect their rulers. There should be a decent amount of consideration on candidates and whether they have the best talents and skill set. Not only is this talent important but also a person’s overall character and the virtues that an individual or a state has. Understanding that these points and others that occur in today’s times are truly timeless in the fact that they also occurred during Plato’s existence is the reason why we can still learn a lot from Plato’s views on politics.
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Works Cited
Plato. “The Internet Classics Archive: The Republic by Plato.” The Internet Classics Archive | The Republic by Plato, http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html.
Documents read in class, previous essay submissions, notes in class, reviewed by friend (Kelly Light)