Comparing Platos Republic and Gullivers Travels Essay example -- com

Platos Republic and Gullivers Travels In The Republic, Plato attempts to define the exaltation conjure as it relates to the tripartite division of the soul. In this division, wisdom, the rational characteristic of the soul, is the nearly valuable and important. In the ideal state the ruling class would be the guardians, those who maintain rationality and will operate according to wisdom. Each undivided should be put to use for which nature intended them, unity to one work, and then every man would do his business (276d). This conception of the ideal state is exemplified in Jonathon Swifts Gullivers Travels, at heart the party of the Houyhnhnms. Each member of the society maintains a role which he or she was born into, and according to Gulliver the Houyhnhnms be wise and virtuous (Swift, 260). These two qualities are most valuable to Plato within the ideal state, and are manifest in Houyhnhnm land. The problems that occur within these utopias are the central problems of de mocracy. The question that arises is whether or not a state such(prenominal) as either of these is just. This problem is far too great to transform within the context of these societies, so in an attempt to understand the near aspects it should be realized that if considered without moral judgements, these societies could function appropriately. Plato... ...nd do just that. The victuals of a virtuous state requires a unanimous understanding of from each one members place and position. Without this understanding the ideal state cannot exist this is why sometimes the pleasures of the individual must be overruled in favour of the needs of the society. works Cited Donoghue, Denis. Jonathan Swift A Critical Introduction. Cambridge University Press Cambridge, 1969. Marra, James L., Zelnick, Stephen C., and Mattson, Mark T. IH 51 Source Book Plato, The Republic, pp. 77-106. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque, Iowa, 1998. Swift, Jonathan. Gullivers Travels. Oxford Oxford Uni versity Press, 1998.