Socrates Ideal State

Socrates envisioned an ideal state with a perfect society. In his state, every human being is treated as a subject, and each has to be trained for a specific task. In this ideal state, the learned and rational people are the philosopher king who guide and run the affairs of the state. A philosopher king has to study philosophy, geometry, and astronomy for the perfection of his judgment, virtues, and decisions. Socrates' philosophy teaches a person to be a philosopher king, capable of forgoing his desire and gaining consciousness to distinguish between evil and virtue.

A philosopher king possesses truth, courage, steadfastness, knowledge, and a sound mind. Women have the same privileges as men in the ideal state, and can enjoy the same benefits. In the hierarchy of classes, the second tier is the auxiliaries, who are soldiers. They are trained to defend, protect, and safeguard the state from external enemies. An auxiliary is trained in physical activities and is always ready to defend the state. At the bottom, the rest of the people who are businessmen, traders, and artists. 

In his allegory, he talks about a den where prisoners are chained. They only see the shadows of the outside objects on the wall. They are ignorant and believe that these shadows are the real objects. They are deprived of the vision and mind to comprehend the realities of the objects. One of them gets out of the den and sees the real objects. He gets enlightened. He observes the sun and concludes that everything is visible through it. He sees real objects whose shadows he named with different names in the den.

A philosopher king is like a prisoner in a den who, with some structured training, came out of the den, saw real things, and comprehended reality. These learned people, known as the philosopher king, are the guardians and rule the state. They will come out of their den through a rigorous voyage of self-annihilation, sacrifice, and relinquishing desires of the world. The newborns were trained to become guides, auxiliaries, and ordinary citizens. In an ideal state, a philosopher king is a perfect being. 

Socrates' concept of an ideal state and the traits of a philosopher king influenced theology. Prophets possess the characteristics of a philosopher king from God. They are trusted and obligated to rule people in their worldly and transcendental worlds. They are virtuous, truthful, and trustworthy. 

Socrates and his student Plato were perplexed by the idea of a perfect society. In contemporary times, we are preoccupied with the same things. We have tested many structures. We have enjoyed aristocracy, theocracy, oligarchy, feudalism, capitalism, and democracy; we couldn't address our social, economic, subjective, objective, and political problems. In his ideal state, Socrates believes in an ideal society where virtues and justice rule.  

Our societies wage wars, steal money and labor, prosecute the helpless, and damage the ecology. They keep us in the shadows. We believe them to be real things. Our education makes us timid; our desires make us weak; and our minds are closed and can't see reality.  Is there any system where we can find a practical solution to our problems? When do and who can bring us out of our den?