Tuesday, April 10, 2018

The King of America


As Socrates would have it, a just polis (city, or city-state) is one in which there is harmony, cooperation, and a division of labor between all the inhabitants.  Farmers farm, merchants buy and sell, the police police, and the rulers rule.  The polis works like machinery, with all the factions contributing to the common good, and all lamenting when misfortune happens to any one of them.


But in an unjust polis, one group's gain is another group's loss, faction schemes against faction, the powerful exploit the weak, and the polis is divided against itself.  


Pop quiz: at this point in time, which polis does America more resemble?  What are you doing about it?

As Socrates would have it, a just polis must be ruled by a philosopher-king, because only a philosopher would have the wisdom to determine what was best for the common good rather than just best for him, a rather self-serving conclusion for a philosopher such as Socrates I might add. But in any event, if the American polis is not a just state, does that imply that the king is not a true philosopher but is only looking out for his own, or his own faction's, self interest?

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