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Argument Essay: The Noble Lie Of The Republic

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Through use of this lie, citizens appear as being treated merely as means to an end. They are a means in the sense that they, as rational beings, are being used to benefit the state. However, I argue that citizens are not being treated as merely a means to an end, but rather as a means to their own end, that otherwise cannot be achieved unless through use of the noble lie which, I hope, has already been established as ethically permissible.
As Strauss (1964) claims in The City and Man, the entire structure of the Republic can only be possible if the wise philosophers have absolute rule; which the noble lie facilitates. In general, citizens are ignorant in that they lack proper education, do not have the ability to think and act in a way that benefits the state as a whole, and are thus incapable of knowing ‘truth’, and by necessity, cannot be allowed to contribute to decisions or rulings that affect the way the state is run (assuming the state has knowledge of the ‘truth’). To further this point, they cannot be trusted to rule over themselves, or be allowed to threaten an established ‘perfect’ (stable) societal and political hierarchy in any way as it would be …show more content…
To achieve this justification, I argued that lying for a good cause, through examination of Adams’ motive utilitarianism, is ethically permissible.
Additionally, I argued that the constituents for a politically stable state such as the Republic are achievable through use of the noble lie and the class system it creates. This was supported by exemplifying the similar qualities to that of a successful sports team, and the justification for using people as a means to their own ends through general utilitarianism and the notion that citizen, through lack of both education and ability, are incapable of rule and must be kept ignorant to the system for it to

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