Comparing Platos Republic and Gullivers Travels Essay example -- com

Platos Republic and Gullivers Travels In The Republic, Plato attempts to define the ideal state as it relates to the three-party division of the soul. In this division, wisdom, the rational characteristic of the soul, is the most valuable and important. In the ideal state the ruling class would be the guardians, those who maintain tenability and will operate according to wisdom. Each individual should be localise to use for which nature intended them, one to one work, and then both man would do his business (276d). This conception of the ideal state is exemplified in Jonathon Swifts Gullivers Travels, within the society of the Houyhnhnms. Each member of the society maintains a section which he or she was born into, and according to Gulliver the Houyhnhnms ar wise and blameless (Swift, 260). These two qualities are most valuable to Plato within the ideal state, and are manifest in Houyhnhnm land. The problems that occur within these utopias are the central problems of democra cy. The point that arises is whether or not a state such as either of these is just. This problem is far too great to understand within the mount of these societies, so in an attempt to understand the beneficial aspects it should be realised that if considered without moral judgements, these societies could function appropriately. Plato... ...nd do just that. The maintenance of a thoroughgoing(a) state requires a unanimous intelligence of each members place and position. Without this understanding the ideal state cannot exist this is why sometimes the pleasures of the individual must be overruled in favour of the needs of the society. Works Cited Donoghue, Denis. Jonathan Swift A Critical Introduction. Cambridge University Press Cambridge, 1969. Marra, James L., Zelnick, Stephen C., and Mattson, Mark T. IH 51 Source nurse Plato, The Republic, pp. 77-106. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque, Iowa, 1998. Swift, Jonathan. Gullivers Travels. Oxford Oxford University Pr ess, 1998.