ent you may be, or to submit to authority, if you do not like it; you need not fight when your fellow citizens are at war, nor remain at peace when they do, unless you want peace; and though you may have no legal right to hold office or sit on juries, you will do so all the same if the fancy takes you.ö (Cornford, 1945, pp. 282-283).
Plato's world seems more like a cafeteria than a functioning society, as individuals pick and choose which responsibilities (if any) they will undertake. In Plato's world, ôevery man for himselfö produces the best society where everybody realizes their potential doing what they want. This theory is premised on the belief that all men are basically good. Even so, conflict is inevitable, yet Plato envisions no collisions between individual pursuits.
Nor does Plato account for necessary services. Who will deliver the basics, such as food, water, sanitation, etc.? Plato probably assumed that slaves would. Taking Plato at his word, though, would mean that all people (including slaves) would be free to pursue their dreams. S
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