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Social Status In Plato’s Ideal State: Its Relevance To Nigerian Society
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 3]
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CHAPTER ONE
1:0 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1:0:1 INTRODUCTION
Man, by nature, is a social animal said Plato. But every “society is made up of unique individuals who fail or succeed, are powerful or weak, not as a consequence of stratification but because of their individual biographiesâ€.[i] It implies that man, being naturally social, unique and differs from one another in terms of individual biography, forms a society, which is comprised of different individuals with different or diverse natural dispositions and talents. Due to this diversity of human natural ability in doing things in the midst of limitless human needs, there arise the need for exchange of service, which, for Plato, is the source of origin of any society2. Because of the limited means of achieving one’s needs, man consequently devised scale of preference. As a result, different people with different functions in the society receive different regards and rewards. Therefore one could be right to say that social division in terms of status is real, tangible and inevitable in every society.
Any social status ascribed to a person or group of persons, most a time is in relation to the role the person or group of persons played or is/ are playing in the society. Plato was also in this frame of thought, of functional stratification, when he was formulating his ideal state. He ascribed more important social position or prestige to the ruling class in the state. But classification of individuals into social strata was not the end-in-itself of the ideal state. Rather the aim was one way of demonstrating his dissatisfaction with the then existing Athenian government. So, he formulated his dream state, which will be free from all the known social, political, economic, and moral evils.
Consequently, the ideal state was based on his idea of man as a rational, social, political and moral being. He wanted the kind of society with the necessary conditions or qualities for attainment of man’s natural needs in accordance with the hierarchy of human social status. For this he says, “If we have founded it (state)3 properly, our state is presumably perfect… Then it will obviously have the qualities of wisdom, courage, self- discipline, and justice†4
How hierarchy of human social status and the method of stratification contribute to the well-being and attainment of man’s needs is the central purpose of this work. But we see it in the light of Plato’s idea of idea state. Before going on, let us first of all reveal the profile of Plato briefly in order to understand his thought more properly.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 3]
Page 1 of 3
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