The success of a political unit depends on the cooperation of that unit’s citizens. The citizens must acknowledge and accept their respective positions so as to maintain the social and political order, or, as Socrates articulates, to prevent revolution (422a). In Socrates’s discussion with his peers to define justice, one of the many debated definitions is one involving the successful performance of each individual’s appropriate function (346d). This meaning of justice as every person fulfilling a specific role supports the “noble lie” proposal. Considered one of many “necessary falsehoods”, Socrates propositions this “single, grand lie which will be believed by everybody” (414b-c) to promote a sense of unity among the ideal city’s citizens. …show more content…
Socrates, hesitant to share the tale (414c), begins with the admission that a significant attempt is required to apply the lie: he must “persuade… the rulers… and the soldiers, and then the rest of the city, that the entire upbringing and education we gave them, their whole experience of it happening to them, was after all merely a dream…” (414d). If the myth is to be successful, every citizen must believe the myth and deny his conscious knowledge of the past. The attempt to convince every citizen, particularly the rulers and the soldiers, is crucial in adherence to the myth; without belief in the myth, its purpose cannot be fulfilled. Socrates elaborates on the myth, stating “that in reality they… [were] formed and raised deep within the earth…. When the process of making them was complete, the earth their mother released them” (414d-e). Having the same origin among the citizens seems to form a common beginning. This unifying force will then prompt each man to regard his peer as his kin and his responsibility to defend – this task being of the utmost concern to the “guardians” of the city. This combined group of rulers and “auxiliaries”, otherwise known as soldiers, to which Socrates refers serves at the top of the city’s hierarchical structure. Their projected appearance of unity will permit them to use their position as a means of protecting not only against invaders but also against the city’s lower classes. As …show more content…
Reiterating unity’s illusory purpose, Socrates says he will tell the men they are brothers, “[b]ut when god made [them], he used a mixture of gold in the creation of those… who were fit to be rulers, which is why they are the most valuable” (415a). Socrates then describes the silver used in the auxiliaries’ creation and the iron and bronze for the farmers and skilled workers (415a). Socrates uses this explanation for each citizen’s role according to a seemingly natural designation to place the myth’s listeners in a position of recognition and, eventually, of belief. The men participating in this dialogue expect the conceptualized city’s citizens to accept nature, not to argue against its decrees. Socrates’s tale continues with the following assertion: “Most of the time you will father children of the same type as yourselves, but because you are all related, occasionally a silver child may be born from a golden parent… and likewise any type from any other type” (415a-b). In such deviant cases where an individual’s abilities exceed or prove inferior to his father’s, nature serves as an explanatory method for the anomaly. Nature, portrayed as a preordained placement, is not to be challenged. Socrates elaborates further