Essay on The Republic By Plato and Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

Plato and Hobbes are both renowned philosophers who constructed an ideal state image. They base their accounts of ideal state on accounts of the human nature. These two philosophers share some ideological similarities in their work. In this essay, the differing views on the original state of the two philosophers will be conveyed, and subsequently critically relate their work in the two materials of The Republic and Leviathan.

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Historical Context of the Republic by Plato

In Platos Republic, Adeimantus and Glaucon implored the Socrates to explain to them that the best life a man could live would be just one, and that life would ultimately be the source of happiness. Socrates was to show that choosing of justice was based on its merit but not the results that would be derived from it. According to Plato, an ideal state should have four virtues of wisdom, justice, moderation as well as courage. The state should have three classes, and these include guardians, producers and also the auxiliaries (Plato, Giovanni, and Tom 49).

Description and Analysis of the Republic by Plato

In his work, Plato emphasizes that it is to look for justice first at a political level than from there the virtues can be transferred to an individual. A city is bigger than an individual. Thus the ease of transfer of justice would be based on that direction. In his imaginative ideal classes, he devised, Plato placed people like artisans and farmers in the lowest of the three categories since they only depended on what nature had to offer them, the skills. The auxiliaries were the warriors with courage (Plato, Giovanni, and Tom 129). Plato defines courage as the ability to retain under all circumstances a lawful and true notion of what is and not to be feared.

Auxiliaries protected the doctrines and the highest and smallest social class of guardians who were the supposed rulers with the best education and knowledge to run the city, and rational with the interest of the people at heart. Once a balance between the tree classes was reached, then that would be a just society. The moderation virtue was to unite all three categories of the state and was to be complimented by justice. Similar to a state, a just souls structure has rational, appetitive and spiritual components.

Historical Context of Leviathan by Hobbes

Hobbes lived in fear as he states that he and fear were twins since his mother had learned of the sail by the Spanish Amada to attack England on the day Hobbes was born. Leviathan was written in response to political turmoil experienced during the English Civil War (Schmitt, Carl, and George 48). Hobbes had to flee his country due to the fear of being beheaded since he was a royalist. Hobbes based his secular philosophy upon mechanistic view of the universe. He explained phenomena purely on motion and matter thus rejecting concepts like disembodied souls and incorporeal spirits (Schmitt, Carl, and George 65)

Description and Analysis of Leviathan by Hobbes

Hobbes had a mechanistic universe view; materialistic philosophy. Aversion and mechanistic desires summed up the human nature which is arbitrated by the constant struggle for power. Hobbes stated that it is no real but the object of a mans desire, no evil but an object of aversion, and there is no absolute wrong but just a relative morality favoring the users reason. The natural condition is innately aggressive and violent as well as being saturated with fear. He gives an illustration of an inevitable power struggle that would ensue when two people are fighting for a common limited resource.

Hobbes proposes that for humanity to exist peacefully and in harmony, then submission to sovereign power is inevitable. Living under the control of an oppressive government was way better than living in constant fear and war threats. Thus man should enter into a social contract which is ruled by a sovereign head. Hobbes thus clearly indicates that fear brings peace and life protection, and its only through the sovereign power that people can attain actual liberty. The subjects of sovereign powers are the writers of the rules and the regulations they want to live by.

Comparison and Contrast between the Two

The state of Plato is built upon the principles of specialization meaning that every person should perform the tasks that they are best suited for or deemed most fit for. Each and every person in the society has a place; hence each of them does the job to the highest of the standards leading to adequate satisfaction of human needs and general improvement in human health. On the contrary, all men are equal according to Hobbes, since nature has made all people equal in mind and body faculties (Smith, "Comparison Of The Republic By Plato and Leviathan). Hobbes states that some people may manifest stronger in mind and body than others, but when all is put together we are all equal.

Another difference between Plato and Hobbes is that Plato believes that there exist a few people in the society who poses absolute truth and greater knowledge than others. The few with this knowledge are the one who bears the moralistic ways of life to the rest of people in the society (Smith, "Comparison Of The Republic By Plato and Leviathan). Conversely, Hobbes does not think that there exists anyone in the society with the possession of truth or the state being responsible for moral reasoning. Hobbes believes that the role played by the government is to prevent a man from hurting each other and peacekeeping in the society.

The two philosophers, however, have some similarities. They both share ideological similarities like the essence of a need for some governance. Both believe and agree on the fact that a state is essential for the general governance of the human beings (Smith, "Comparison Of The Republic By Plato and Leviathan). The two recognize that without hierarchy, any country would crumble making the citizens give in to desires, appetites, and versions. Any form of governance ensures that citizens behave according to the based set rules and regulations.

Work Cited

Plato, Giovanni R. F. Ferrari, and Tom Griffith. The Republic. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ Pr, 2001. Print.

Schmitt, Carl, and George Schwab. The Leviathan in the State Theory of Thomas Hobbes: Meaning and Failure of a Political Symbol. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008. Print.

Smith, Nicole. "Comparison Of The Republic By Plato and Leviathan By Thomas Hobbes". Articlemyriad.Com, 2011, http://www.articlemyriad.com/comparison-republic-plato-leviathan-hobbes/.