Plato States Decline Essay

How and why, according to Plato, do States decline. “…since all creates things must decay, even a social order of this kind cannot last for all time, but will decay.” (546a) Socrates recognises that his “ideal state” is unlikely to occur in the first place, but if it did exist, it will not last. Plato breaks down the decay into five regimes, decaying in order of best to worst, with each regime occupied by a type of man. Fundamentally, the decline occurs due to the polis not recognising their proper role and overstepping their specific set of duties. By following human nature and their desires, they are doing injustice to themselves and injustice to the state, causing it to decline. Alongside the decline of the state, the soul of the man found
The wealthy start to concern themselves more with money than virtues. The great mass of the citizens become lovers of money and, so they grow richer and richer. The accumulation of wealth comes with status and political power through higher tax payments and their contributions to the community. The rich become afraid of the poor and so pass a legislation requiring a minimum amount of wealth to gain a spot in office. This completes the decline from Timocracy to Oligarchy. A divide between the rich and poor becomes more apparent, with each conspiring against each other. The problem of vagrants and crime start to become more apparent in an oligarchy. Of the poor, there are the “stingless” and the “Stingers”. The “stingless” are those that, in their old age, have become paupers. From the “stingers” comes all the criminals. The rich fear the poor and so, become more dictatorial. Although there is growing poverty, the wealthy choose to ignore it and carry on accumulating more money. Plato points out here that the worst defect of this regime, and all regimes henceforth, is “that a man can sell all he has to another and live on as a member of society without any real function…” . Its believed to be the worst defect because a man can have no role within the state but still live in it as a pauper. Despite this, Plato credits this regime with having the virtue of
Plato would have seen the Athenian society, in his time, shifting from an Oligarchy to a Democracy. The love of money in the oligarchy leads to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. The love of money and virtue of self-control cannot co-exist, so as the wealth becomes more concentrated, the wealthy lose their self-control. As the poor grow in numbers, the number of beggars and thieves increases. They hate and conspire against everyone who owns property and are eager for revolution. The oligarchs are unwilling to engage in a civil war due to the thinness of their ranks and the costs associated with civil war. “That is how democracy is established, whether it’s done by force of arms or by frightening its opponents into withdrawal.” The Democracy Plato is describing here is one in which office is decided randomly with all citizens eligible for a spot in office. The democratic city loses its self-control but gains freedom in the form of liberty and freedom of speech. Due to the amount of freedom the state has, the citizens become tolerant and live eccentric