Philosophical Context
(need access to Platos Republic for this paper)
- Plato demonstrates throughout the Republic that justice is achieved via consensus and that the ideal form of justice requires a "philosopher king/queen," who gets each group in society to mind their business, i.e., to perform their function well for the community and to not exploit others for personal gain.
- Just like something is only worth what others will pay for it, justice is only what can be agreed upon by the people involved. In this way, justice appears to gauge how well the different groups and classes in society are harmonizing around core values and social and political issues; and Plato says the best expression of justice is when the rational part of the soul (logos) harmonizes the irrational parts (eros and thumos) to function as a unified whole.
- The tricky part for self-governance becomes determining the kind of consensus we want as well as the values and procedures that will guide us to the best consensus that we can achieve. Kallipolis achieves total consensus through education and propaganda; however, this city only exists “in speech” and will never materialize. Nevertheless, the group agrees that the best city is the one that best approximates the ideals that govern Kallipolis. Thus, Plato challenges the reader to strive to make their community more rationally governed and socially harmonized.
Essay 1 Prompt
- Essay 1 is a response to a thought experiment. Prior to Plato’s critique of direct democracy in Book VIII, he explained the function of the guardian class and the strict education of the ruling elite. The goal for Essay 1 is to consider whether justice would be better achieved today if we abandon current experiments with democratic self-governance and instead implement a "rule by experts" like Kallipolis proposes.
- Let's suppose that world leaders have convened to discuss the growing list of global problems: climate change, poverty & hunger, war, oppression, COVID, threats to democracies, economic collapses, etc. Let's further suppose that the world leaders are unable to reach consensus on how to diagnose and remedy these problems.
- In response to this urgent time of crisis, a group of billionaire elites now wish to rule instead since they claim to be able to reach rational consensus more quickly and can implement policy changes more efficiently than nation states. With only about ten years left before the world can reverse the effects of human-caused climate change, some say this deal is humanity's best hope for a future.
- Your thesis must respond to the following question posed by the thought experiment. Together, world leaders and billionaire elites make the world an offer: (Option A) keep the present models of governance around the world OR (Option B) switch to a rule by billionaire elites.
- Important Guidelines:
- Divide the essay into three distinct sections and number them (1, 2, 3). See the three-part essay outline below.
- Use arguments from Plato's Republic to support your thesis. This assignment tests your understanding of Plato's Republic and your ability to apply Plato's arguments to real-world situations. If the essay contains no textual evidence, then it will lose a lot of points.