Cultural influence of Plato's Republic
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Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
's ''Republic'' has been influential in literature and art.


Similarities in literature


Aristophanes

Around the same time that the ''Republic'' was being composed, the
playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states ...
produced the play ''
Assemblywomen ''Assemblywomen'' ( grc-gre, Ἐκκλησιάζουσαι ''Ekklesiazousai''; also translated as, ''Congresswomen'', ''Women in Parliament'', ''Women in Power'', and ''A Parliament of Women'') is a comedy written by the Greek playwright Aristo ...
.'' The state formed by the women in this play bears many similarities to the ideal government described by Plato. It is not discernible which was released first; most likely Aristophanes had heard an early form of the ''Republic'' before it was completed and used it as the basis for ''Assemblywomen''. Certainly, the similarities have long been commented upon.


Utopias

Thomas More, when writing his ''
Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...
'', invented the technique of using the portrayal of a "utopia" as the carrier of his thoughts about the ideal society. More's island Utopia is also similar to Plato's ''Republic'' in some aspects, among them common property and the lack of privacy.


Dystopias

The form of government described in the ''Republic'' has been adapted in several modern dystopic novels and stories. The separation of people by professional class, assignment of profession and purpose by the state, and the absence of traditional family units, replaced by state-organized breeding, was included by authors in descriptions of totalitarian dystopic governments. Government which bears resemblance to Plato's ''Republic'' is found in Aldous Huxley's '' Brave New World'' and Lois Lowry's ''
The Giver ''The Giver'' is a 1993 American young adult dystopian novel written by Lois Lowry, set in a society which at first appears to be utopian but is revealed to be dystopian as the story progresses. In the novel, the society has taken away pain ...
''. The Orwellian
dystopia A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
depicted in the novel ''
1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
'' had many characteristics in common with Plato's description of the allegory of the Cave as Winston Smith strives to liberate himself from it.


Heinlein

Another satiric presentation of Platonic style government would be Robert A. Heinlein's
Starship Troopers ''Starship Troopers'' is a military science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. Written in a few weeks in reaction to the US suspending nuclear tests, the story was first published as a two-part serial in ''The Magazine of F ...
. His citizen can be compared to a Platonic Guardian, without the communal breeding and property, but still having a militaristic base. Although there are significant differences in the specifics of the system, Heinlein and Plato both describe systems of limited franchise, with a political class that has supposedly earned their power and wisely governs the whole. ''Republic'' is specifically attacked in ''Starship Troopers''. Indeed, the arachnids can be seen as much closer to a ''Republic'' society than the humans.


Other

Although not directly referenced at any point the ''Mega City One'' of 2000AD's Judge Dredd storyline has broad similarities to the Platonic Republic – mainly in that it is governed by a Guardian Class (the Judges) raised from infancy to govern in the interests of the polity and bound by far stricter rules than apply to the common citizen. The comic book
Morning Glories Morning glory (also written as morning-glory) is the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose current taxonomy and systematics are in flux. Morning glory species belong to many genera, some of ...
takes place at a violent and secretive boarding school which is built on the grounds above Plato's Cave. The experience of Jack in Emma Donoghue's 2010 novel " Room" contains many similarities to the experience of the people in Plato's Cave.


Artistic creations based on Plato's ''Republic''

*In the early 1970s the Dutch composer
Louis Andriessen Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 6 June 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Although ...
composed a vocal work called '' De Staat'', based on the text of Plato's ''Republic''. *The film '' The Matrix'' models Plato's Allegory of the Cave. *The 2010 song " The Cave", recorded by the folk quartet Mumford & Sons, contains direct references to Plato's Allegory of the Cave. *Jose Saramago's novel '' The Cave'' is loosely based on the Allegory of the Cave. *See also Ring of Gyges: Cultural influences *The 2022 album "The Republic" by US post-metal band Thumos is an instrumental adaption of Plato’s Republic.


See also

* Allegory of the Cave *
Analogy of the divided line The analogy of the divided line ( grc-gre, γραμμὴ δίχα τετμημένη, grammē dicha tetmēmenē) is presented by the Ancient Greece, Greek philosopher Plato in the ''The Republic (Plato), Republic'' (509d–511e). It is written a ...
*
Metaphor of the sun The analogy of the sun (or simile of the sun or metaphor of the sun) is found in the sixth book of '' The Republic'' (507b–509c), written by the Greek philosopher Plato as a dialogue between his brother Glaucon and Socrates, and narrated by the ...
* Myth of Er * Noble Lie *
Philosopher king The philosopher king is a hypothetical ruler in whom political skill is combined with philosophical knowledge. The concept of a city-state ruled by philosophers is first explored in Plato's ''Republic'', written around 375 BC. Plato argued that ...
*
Ring of Gyges The Ring of Gyges ( grc, Γύγου Δακτύλιος, ''Gúgou Daktúlios'', ) is a hypothetical magic ring mentioned by the philosopher Plato in Book 2 of his ''Republic'' (2:359a–2:360d). It grants its owner the power to become invisible at ...
*
Ship of state The Ship of State is an ancient and oft-cited metaphor, famously expounded by Plato in the ''Republic'' (Book 6, 488a–489d), which likens the governance of a city-state to the command of a vessel. Plato expands the established metaphor and ult ...
*
The Form of the Good "Form of the Good", or more literally "the idea of the good" () is a concept in the philosophy of Plato. The definition of the Good is a perfect, eternal, and changeless Form, existing outside space and time. It is a Platonic ideal. Uses in ''T ...


References

{{Plato navbox Platonism Republic, Plato's
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
Plato's Republic