“Plato’s Republic: The Myth of Meritocracy and the Elimination of Conflict”
David Nagy

According to an almost ubiquitous interpretation of Plato’s political theory in the Republic, Plato believes that the ideal city-state, the Kallipolis, is a monarchy/aristocracy, where everyone does what they’re naturally suited for and only those naturally rational govern. This can be broken down into three interrelated but distinct theses: (a) Everyone is essentially suited to one job (the Essentialism thesis); (b) Only a small number of people, the philosopher-kings, are naturally suited to rule because only they are able to know how (the Elitism thesis); (c) Those rulers take an active part in the city’s governance (the Governance thesis). I will challenge all three theses: Plato’s account of human nature is not as simplistic as the Essentialism thesis would have it; philosopher-kings are only the ideal rulers because they don’t want to rule; the rulers actually play a very small role in the city’s day-to-day-life. I will then offer an alternate account: Plato believes the only way to make all citizens happy is to eliminate all conflict in the city, and the only way to accomplish that is through a strict, unbreakable hierarchy. That, not a belief in natural human difference, is the true motivation behind the Republic’s argument for aristocracy.

Please join us on December 9th, 2013 to discuss David’s paper.