Plato Analysis. This passage of the Republic is outlining how, in Platos ideal state, an analogy for the soul, there should be the abolition of private property for the guardians of the state

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Plato: 'In the first place, none of them is to have any private property, except what is absolutely indispensable. In the second place, none of them is to have living quarters and store rooms which are not able to be entered into by anyone who wants to. ... There will be shared mess halls for them to go to, and their lives will be communal, as if they were on campaign. We'll tell them that the permanent presence in their minds of divine gold and silver, which they were granted by the gods, means that they have no need of earthly gold and silver as well.' (Republic, Book 5, 416-417)

This passage of the Republic is outlining how, in Plato’s ideal state, an analogy for the soul, there should be the abolition of private property for the guardians of the state who make up part of the tripartite system. Plato argues that it would create divided interests, whereas the guardians would be able to work solely for the interests of the city if they were not accumulating wealth. The latter part of the passage refers to the “Noble Lie”, where the citizens are told that they are either born with gold, silver or bronze in their souls. The guardians and auxiliaries, therefore, won’t require private property as they already have wealth in their souls.

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Plato’s key argument in the city/soul analogy is that justice equals to harmony. As the analogy is representative of the soul, greed would be placed in the “desires” section, one of the tripartite elements, making the individual’s soul unharmonious, leading to injustice. Having communal areas for the guardians would eliminate the need for competition, which is important when considering a harmonious society, as the need to be better than a fellow citizen would disturb this harmony. This can be illustrated in a later passage. In addition, the Noble Lie would play a similar role, as the guardians and auxiliaries ...

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