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Early Greek Politics & Democracy

e power of the state and the integrity of the individual. The court gives Socrates an out if he recants his teachings, and he will not do it. Socrates represents the primary social value of inquiry, of the pursuit of philosophy, of the examination of the meaning of life. He also represents integrity, for when we inquire into the meaning of existence and develop a set of beliefs, we must live up to those beliefs. Socrates believes the unexamined life is not worth living, and if he accepts the right of the court to judge his thoughts, he has lost his integrity. Socrates is a poor man who is rich in intellect and in dedication. His followers carry on his ideas for him, and as is made clear in the Crito, though they may want to save him, he talks them out of it because to escape would be to go against his principles.

Much of Plato's theory of politics is found in The Republic, and the city referred to in that work by Socrates can be seen as any state. The primary subject of The Republic is justice, examined in broad terms:

The Republic is probably the most elaborate monograph on justice ever written. It examines a variety of views about justice, and it does this in a way which leads us to believe that Plato omitted none of the more important theories known to him. In fact, Plato clearly implies that because of his vain attempts to track it down among the current views, a new search for justice is necessary (Popper 49).

Socrates indicates that the reason human beings come together to form a state in the first place is because human beings have certain needs which can only be fulfilled by the presence of other people, and in the properly administered state the individual is enabled to fulfill his or her needs:

The healthy city satisfies the primary needs, the needs of the body. The proper satisfaction requires that each man exercise only one art. This means that everyone does almost all his work for others but also...

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Early Greek Politics & Democracy. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 03:55, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1693053.html