TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
BACKGROUND
OF THE STUDY
1.1
Statement of the problem……………………..……...1
1.2 Purpose of the study…………………………………2
1.3 Scope
of the study………………………………………3
1.4 Methodology…………………………………………4
1.5
Division of work………………………………………..4
1.6
Literature review…………………………………….….5
1.6.1
Sophists………………………………………...…..5
1.6.1.1 Protagoras……………………………………...6
1.6.1.2
Thrasymachus……………………………………7
1.6.2 Socrates……………………………………………….8
1.6.3
Aristophanes…………………………………….9
CHAPTER TWO
CLARIFICATION
OF THE KEY CONCEPTS
2.1
Definition of the state……………………………11
2.2 The meaning of justice………………………………..14
2.3 Justice as a virtue…………………………………..17
2.4 Justice as a leaven of the state………………………..19
CHAPTER THREE
THE NATURE
OF A JUST STATE IN PLATO
3.1 Origin of the state……………………………………..23
3.2 Categorization of the state…………………….…....25
3.2.1 Guardians……………………………………….……26
3.2.2 Auxiliaries……………………………………...30
3.2.3 Artisans…………………………………………...31
3.3 Philosopher king as the epitome of the just state ……… 33
CHAPTER FOUR
FORMS OF
POLITICAL SOCIETY IN PLATO
4.1 Imperfect forms of political society………...….38
4.1.1 Timocracy……………………………………....38
4.1.2 Oligarchy………………………………………….39
4.1.3 Democracy………………………………………...41
4.1.4 Tyranny………………………………………....44
4.2 Perfect form of political society……………………..45
4.2.1 Aristocracy………………………………………...46
CHAPTER
FIVE
EVALUATION
AND CONCLUSION
5.1 Evaluation………………………………………..48
5.2 Relevance of Plato’s just state to Nigeria…..…54
5.3
Conclusion……………………………………….....57
BIBLIOGRAPHY………………….……………………….59
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Plato, a
native of Athens and the son of Ariston and Perictione was born in 427B.C. His
original name was Aristocle while Plato was his nick name in gymnastic. He was
from a distinguished family and became a pupil of Socrates at the age of 20.
The moral life and principle of Socrates had a great influence on him and so
Omoregbe said that, “he could not understand how a man like Socrates, such a
good man, such an excellent philosopher and a moralist could be put to death by
the Athenian authority”.
Plato is
one of the most abstract thinkers in the history of philosophy. He had the best
education, which the world then could afford and this earned him the master of
all the branches of learning such as: mathematics, ethics, metaphysics,
epistemology, philosophy, science, religion, and other related subjects or
courses. The early ambition of Plato was politics but because of the unjust
condemnation of his mentor, Socrates, he was disappointed. Omoregbe affirms
that, “Plato received the very first shock of his life from this event and was
disappointed by the way his master, Socrates was incriminated and put to death
on charges of impiety and corruption of the youth”.
Thus, Plato
was disappointed with democracy, the government of his time. His attitude towards a just and democratic
government in Athens was influenced also, by what he saw during the last years
of the Peloponnesian war. He hated democracy after seeing its inability to
produce great leaders at the time of the war, coupled with the way it treated
one of its greatest citizens, Socrates. This very tragic event had an
overwhelming impact on Plato’s life and especially on his political
ambition.
It could also be stated that the political
instability, marginalization, intimidation, and oppression of the citizens in
Athens led him into a postulation of the ideal state or the formation of new
concept of political leadership rooted in peace, justice, harmony and fair
play, whereby authority and knowledge are appropriately combined for the
betterment of the state. Having been born and grown up right inside the
Athenian political scene, it contributed in no small measure to the shaping of
the political mind of the renowned genius for an Ideal state. He achieved this
by founding an academy and presiding over it for the rest of his life.
Meanwhile, the academy became the first university in the Western Europe.
The
importance of education has also been emphasized by Aristotle who said that,
“every man desires to know”. He believed that when man has the knowledge of
good and evil, he would be able to rise to the cadre of justice in the state.
But, when man lacks the appropriate knowledge, justice is then denied to the
individual(s) who surround(s) him. Hence, John S. Mill maintained that, “it is
a crime punishable by law to bring a child into the world without giving him
the basic or necessary education”. This education is a conditio
sine qua non for an ideal state.
CHAPTER ONE
BACK GROUND
OF THE STUDY.
1.1 Statement of the Problem
The inability of man to satisfy his limitless needs arising
from his self-insufficiency drives him to seek the service of others in the
society. Hence, the origin of the state is traceable to the fact that man
naturally is a social being who cannot but live in the society comprising of
other men. It is only in the society that man can realize his being and attain
the goal of his existence. Therefore, the state exists for man and not man for
the state, since man creates the state. In this regard, it is the function of
the state to provide for man’s needs. The primary purpose for establishing the
state is to work for the goal of man.
However, the goal for which the state is established is
never completely achieved, most often due to man’s egocentric nature,
injustice, factionalism, incompetence, etc which leads to disorder in different
spheres of the state. For instance, in Athens, the Athenians were undergoing
various forms of social perversion ranging from injustice, intimidation, marginalization,
and socio-political crises leading to the disrespect of the fundamental human
rights. All these were happening in the days of Plato and he was moved to
postulate what he thought was the best government for the human society,
especially in Athens.
Meanwhile,
man as a political animal (ens politikos) and a social being (ens socialis)
encounters such problems as to how he should live, who should rule or be ruled,
what form of political society to be adopted, what are the ideas for the state?
And, many such questions, as we shall see in this work.
1.2 Purpose of the Study.
“Love is
the basis of Justice”1 as
Augustine would have it, and this agrees with Plato’s idea of harmony between
the three classes in the state each performing his duty out of love of each
other so as to achieve the common goal (good of the society). Plato and the rest of the moral philosophers
who sort for Justice in the world could be called the prophets of social
Justice.
Given the
nature of this work, it is limited to the most striking points in Plato’s
discussion on politics, and the emergence of an ideal state governed in Justice
i.e., on how best the state should be governed for the interest of both the
state and citizens. This work is directed to solving social political problems
that arise in the contemporary politics, following the paradigm, which should
be applied in the present day politics,
1.3 Scope of the Study
Plato gives an idealistic interpretation of Justice in his
state. Meanwhile, this research work will be based mainly on the theories of
ideal state propounded by Plato. The views of other Philosophers will also be
entertained as well.
1.4 Methodology
The work is philosophical. The method is
expository, descriptive and evaluative in nature. It will examine the relevance
of Plato’s just state when applied to Nigerian, and finally conclusion is drawn
at the end of this work.
1.5 Division of Work
This work is divided into five chapters. Chapter one takes
into consideration the background of the study and the literature review of
Justice beginning from the most recognized ancient philosophers till the time
of Plato. Chapter two is a brief survey of the key concepts. The definition of
state and Justice as the leaven of the ideal state. Chapter three is a brief
assessment of the nature of the Just state in Plato. It is further divided into
three namely the origin of the state, the citizens of the state. The state
should be self- sufficing and capable of protecting its citizens from internal
and external problem since it is natural to man and exists for the provision of
numerous needs of man. Hence, leadership of the state by competent hand i.e.,
philosopher king. Chapter four, considers the various forms of political
society in Plato showing the bad and good forms, where the former aims at
satisfying the selfish interests of the rulers, the later at the good of the
state and the entire citizenry. Chapter five deals with evaluation, pointing
out Plato’s relevance to the present day (Nigerian) politics, and lastly the
conclusion of this research work.
1.6 Literature Review
“No one speaks from nowhere,”2 said Hans Gadamer. It is on this
ground that we wish to explore our literature reviews, surveying how some
political writers conceived this concept justice, taking cognisance of its
definition as the strong and firm will to dish to each that which is his/her
due. Meanwhile, their notions of justice differ considerably, especially the
sophists, which was one of the major reasons that brought Plato into the scene.
1.6.1 Sophists
They are
teachers who came to Athens to deliberate more on human nature, how knowledge
is acquired and how human might order their behaviour. But, in the real sense
of it they were political and legal men. Meanwhile, we shall look at two of
them.
1.6.1.1 Protagoras (481-410BC)
He was best
known for his statement that “man is the measure of all things, of the things
that are, that they are, and of the things that are not, that they are not”3. For him,
knowledge is limited to our various perceptions and these perceptions differ
with each other. He maintained that
moral judgments are relative. He was willing to admit that the idea of Justice
or law reflects a general desire in each culture for a moral order among all
people. Nevertheless, he denied that there was any uniform law of nature
pertaining to human behaviour that all peoples everywhere could discover.
Though, he distinguished between nature and custom or convention and said that
law and moral rules are based, not upon nature, but upon convention, thereby
taking a conservative position that the state makes the laws and that these
laws should be accepted by everyone because they are as good as and that can be
made.
Hence, for
the interest of a peaceful and orderly society, people should respect and
uphold the customs, Laws and moral rules their tradition has carefully
nurtured. One should not set his private judgment against the law of the state
so that Justice may prevail.
1.6.1.2
Thrasymachus (Late 5th
century)
He was a
man who asserts that injustice is to be preferred to the life of Justice. He
did not look upon injustice as a defect of character. On the contrary, he said,
“Justice is pursued by simpletons and leads to weakness”4. For him, people should pursue
their own interest aggressively in a virtually unlimited form of self-
assertion.
He regards
justice as the interest of the stronger and believed that might is right, for
laws are made by the ruling party for its own interest. Hence, he defined law
as what is right and is the same in all states with the same meaning as the
interest of the party established in power.
Stumpf affirms that, “what is right is the same everywhere, the interest
of the stronger party”5. That is
the reduction of morality to power, an inevitable logical consequence of the
progressive radicalism of the sophists, which led them to a nihilistic attitude
toward truth and ethics.
1.6.2 Socrates (470-399BC)
He was the
first great moral philosopher among the Greeks. Though he wrote nothing, his
life and teaching made much impression on his disciples who penned down all
about his philosophy and life. He was a man of confounding self- discipline and
strong character who lived and died in accordance with his moral
principles. Omoregbe states that:
He told the people of Athens
that his mission was to do the greatest good to everyone of them, to persuade
everyone among you that he must look into himself and seek virtue and wisdom
before he looks to his private interests....6
Seeking for the truth
helps them to live a good life and knowledge is a means to this moral life.
Then, virtue and good actions flow from knowledge, while wrongdoing is the
result of ignorance. The goal of life is
happiness, and the only path that leads to it is virtue. To sum it up, he was a man of great
discipline (justice). He placed justice under the highest kind of virtue.
Hence, Justice is a prerequisite for happiness and it culminates into love.
1.6.3
Aristophanes (448-380BC)
He was a
critique of the democracy of his time due to its ridiculous practice of
Justice. His attack was highly based on the fact the democrats failed to
abolish private property and the institution of marriage. For him, these were
the causes of inequalities among the citizens. Thus, he advocates for communism
where he believed that righteousness or justice could be maintained. And as he
said it, “…will abolish poverty, eliminate the ubiquitous Athenian lawsuits,
introduce genuine equality, and destroy crime”7.
For him,
there was nothing natural about war, for it destroyed so large a part of
Athenian life due to the fact that men had departed from the paths of justice,
which had somehow been formerly enshrined in the traditional order8. He advocates for the restoration
of old order, thereby eliminating both the disease of the polis internally and
the disintegration caused by war in the external scene. Advocating for equal
share and proposition of communism where he thought that Justice would be
maintained in its fullest.
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