The Republic

Plato is often criticized for legitimising social repression. In The Republic, Socrates says that “subjection to the principle of divine intelligence is to everyone’s advantage. It’s best if this principle is part of a person’s own nature, but if it isn’t, it can be imposed from outside” (341). In other words, one ought to accept the moral and social order Socrates prescribes. However, those who do not can be “punished” (342). This is to ensure that they conform, through fear, to that order anyway. Or at least it is to ensure that they do so until they can be made to understand their own best interests.

One response to this criticism would be to point out that Plato’s state is primarily a metaphor for the human mind. What Plato advocates fundamentally is not real political coercion but for each person to mentally “set his own house in order” (155). This may mean examining and rearranging bad practices or unhealthy desires. This is so that each “is his own ruler” (156) and “has internal concord” (156). This is so the grounds are laid by which one can pursue