Katia Aguilar Suarez
Ben Garceau
Humanities Core H1AS
October 24, 2022
An Altered World
Evolution and transformation are consistent aspects of life. In our lives, we have witnessed various changes in our society. We thrive for change and we always have, but we continue to hold on to many ancient ideologies and developments. A big contributor and inspiration to the developments we conserve to this day have been the ancient Greek philosophers. When reading Plato's Republic readers have a closer look into ancient Greek ideology and philosophy. We observe some of the ideas we have continued to preserve to this day. When looking at book V from Plato's Republic we can analyze an argument made in the time of Socrates' existence that is still relevant today. Book V is based on the argument between Socrates and other philosophers. In a previous argument, Socrates briefly mentioned a woman's role while discussing the foundations of their new city. Polemarchus and others bring up this discussion once again to conclude this matter. Throughout the book, Socrates goes on to continue to share his ideas and proposals for women in Kallipolis. In Plato's Republic, the readers are shown different proposals and arguments between various philosophers as they explore new ideologies and philosophies for their new city. In Book V, Socrates developed a new controversial idea that took a step back from a societal progression. Though his proposal and idea stereotype women and has peculiar comparisons, the base of the argument was ahead of its time and relevant to the present day.
Socrates uses various devices throughout his argument, in particular, he uses comparison to demonstrate his logic. Socrates compares animals to men and women as well as comparing them to one another. In Plato’s Republic, book V, page 125 it said, “As follows: Do we think that the wives of our guardian watchdogs should guard what the males guard, hunt with them, and do everything else in common with them? Or should we keep the women at home, as incapable of doing this, since they must bear and rear the puppies, while the males work and have the entire care of the flock?” Socrates claims that women are unable to operate as a guardian would because their sole purpose is to endure their children or “puppies”. Guardians who are typically men are compared to dogs, as Socrates described they have similar responsibilities where they hunt, work and care for the “flock”. Plato uses ethos and logos to help engage the message of ethics, logic, and reasoning from Socrates. Plato's use of comparison accomplishes the goal of persuasion and a new interpretation. With his use of comparison readers are captivated and become interested in this obscure interpretation they stick around to hear more. Plato's worldbuilding project is presented through Socrates' dialogue. Through the dialogue, Plato's vision of worldbuilding is integrated to show this new idealized world that during their time was foreign.
Stereotypes have been used for the longest time, even now we continue to stereotype everyone and anything. This is not any different in the ancient Greek world. Socrates continuously stereotypes the women's and men's roles in society. In Plato's Republic, book V page 125, it says, “For men born and educated as we’ve described there is, in my opinion, no right way to acquire and use women and children other than by following the road on which we started them.” Notably, Plato and others had different ideas from their typical stereotypical roles when constructing this new ideal world; Socrates continued with this idea that the societal roles assigned to men and women should prevail, as he saw no need for development. Also in book V, page 125, “Everything should be in common, except that the females are weaker [e] and the males stronger. And is it possible to use any animals for the same things if you don’t give them the same upbringing and education? No, it isn’t. Therefore, if we use the women for the same things as the men, they must also be taught the same things.” Many other philosophers disagreed with this take as they are developing an ideal world they want to make many advances in their society and philosophy. Socrates' interpretation of worldbuilding and development differed from other philosophers as he desired more knowledge rather than change; the other philosophers wanted to generate new ideas and a new way of living. Part of this demonstrates more of Plato's vision for worldbuilding, he understood and through the dialogue of others demonstrated the difficulties of creating everyone's idealized world.
Ultimately, Plato's Republic has an interesting take on the topic of worldbuilding. Though the time and culture were different, it has some ideas and philosophies we can take from. Plato’s use of comparison and stereotypes at last help the overall argument and story move along. The foundation of this particular passage is well described and the dialogues are very illuminating. The principle of the argument continues to be very relevant and from then to now not a lot has changed; although we feel as if we have evolved a lot over the years stereotypes and comparisons continue to be used frequently and widely. Overall, the consideration of the idea of women and men being equal and women going outside their social norms is restorative; especially coming from their time and place.
Works Cited
Plato. Republic. Translated by G.M.A. Grube and revised by C.D.C. Reeve, Hackett Publishing, 1992.