In Plato's Republic, Socrates leads a discussion with his fellow philosophers attempting to isolate the concept of justice in the soul. In order to accomplish this task,they hypothesize that justice can occur both in the city as well as and the soul. Because the philosophers are more familiar with the workings of a city than the soul,they try to find justice by creating the ideal city, or Kallipolis. When they find justice in the ideal city, they are able to apply as well as justify the use of that sameconcept in the soul. From their discussion, they conclude that the components of the soul and the components of the city are related, and that the concept of justiceoccurs in both.Empirical observation shows that a city is created because no single person is self-sufficient. All the needs of the citizens determine the components of their city, fromthe basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter, to the more elaborate needs such as swords, plumbing, and books. In an ideal city, the philosophers believe eachcitizen will do the task that is best suited to him or her. Such a division of labor makes the city the most efficient, or ideal. Socrates then examines these various tasks and is able to separate them into three distinct groups: those which produce something for the city, those which protectthe city from both internal and external subversion, and those which provide control and direct the other two groups. The people who carry out these tasks are calledproducers, guardians, and rulers, respectively. Socrates then deals heavily with education. He decrees that the citizens, specifically the guardians, are to have both physical and mental training, for "those whodevote themselves exclusively to physical training turn out to be more savage than they should, while those who devote themselves to music and poetry turn outsofter than is good for them" (410c). Here, starting to lay the groundwork for relating the city to the soul, Socrates...
