Philosopher-kings

Plato's political philosophy has been the subject of much criticism. He was highly critical of democracy and believed in an ruled by philosopher-kings. His political philosophy has been commonly labelled as totalitarian.

Plato has a number of objections to democracy. Plato valued freedom though he believed democracy was a danger due to excessive freedom. He also believed that a system in which everyone has a right to rule all sorts of selfish people who care nothing for the people but are only motivated by their own personal desires are able to attain power. He concludes that democracy risks bringing dictators, tyrants, demagogues etc. to power. He also claims that democracies have leaders without proper skills or morals and that it is quite unlikely that the best equipped to rule will come to power.

Plato through the character of Socrates gives an analogy related to democracy, he asks us to imagine a ship who's owners's height and strength surpass all those on the ship but is slightly deaf and his vision is similarly impaired and his knowledge of navigation is just as bad. He then asks us to imagine the sailors all of which are arguing who should have control of the helm while none of them have studied navigation.The sailors don't even know that there is such a thing as the craft of navigation. All the sailors try to convince the owner to give control of the ship over to them and whoever convinces him becomes the navigator or captain. They manipulate and trick the owner into giving over the helm. The true captain, the one with the knowledge of navigation is seen as a useless stargazer and never becomes the helmsman. The owner is the ruled, the sailors are the rulers and the true captain is the philosopher-king.

Plato lists three classes in his ideal society.

Plato's ideal rulers are philosopher-kings. Not only are they the most wise but they are also virtuous and selfless, they only care for the good of the people. To combat corruption Plato suggests that the rulers would live simply and as a common person. Contrary to societal values at the time Plato suggests that gender should not be a factor in deciding who should rule and that women as well as men can rule. Plato believed that the Guardians should mate and reproduce and that the children will be raised communally rather than by their biological parents. The children's biological parents will never be known to them. The children of the guardian class will be tested and only the most wise and virtuous will become rulers.

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Wikipedia