CHAPTER 15
Plato and Aristotle:
Utopia and Polity
Plato (427-347 B.C.)
The state, to Plato, is a natural institution. It arises out of the
need for man to live in groups, due to his inability to provide for
his basic needs by himself. The family, which is the basic social
institution necessary for the continuance of the species, is also
natural. The state is the outgrowth of the normal and natural
evolution of the family which is unable to provide all the needs
that are required by a large community. Thus, the state is the
means by which men can live in a community with one another.
While the primary function of the state is to help man meet his
economic needs, its function goes beyond that basic idea.
To simply provide the means for economic progress is not
enough. Justice, the virtue that men must have in order to be
good, is also the virtue that a state must have in order to be a good
state. In Plato’s moral philosophy, he contended that each person
consisted of three elements, reason, spirit, and appetite. The just
man was one who developed these three to their proper end, in
their proper proportion, creating a harmony of wisdom, courage,
and temperance. The state to Plato, was the “individual writ
large.” Thus, the ideal state was one in which all the members
performed their proper function, creating a harmonious, a just,
state. The Republic, Plato’s most important work, is devoted, in
large measure, to describing this ideal state.
Just as in the individual, then, the state was divided into three
parts, three classes. The class which was to be responsible for
governing, teaching, and otherwise directing the operation of the
state was the “guardian” class, those who possessed the virtue of
wisdom. Those who had the virtue of courage comprised the
“warrior” class and were entrusted with protecting the state from
all enemies. The “artisan” class, the vast majority of people, the
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