A PHILOSOPHICAL EVALUATION OF THE GOOD IN PLATO’S POLITICAL THOUGHT

Abstract

Plato tries to address the problem of human nature. Plato’s conception of politics reflects the cooperative activity of human politico-existential relations. Plato’s moral theory gives birth to his political theory. The suitability or non-suitability of Plato’s Republic and its cognate relevance in the past and in our today’s contemporary world has to do with humans’ abuse of power. The idea of the common good has become a controversial issue due to the problem of human nature. Plato believes that the human being is egocentric in nature. The problem associated with Plato’s Republic is that it is utopian ideology despite its utopian ideology; it is also conservative in nature. Plato’s Republic has some contemporary significance. Plato’s Republic represents reasonable comprehensive moral agreement of persons. The central objective of Plato’s Republic is predicated on the idea of justice and the common good.  The common good centered on the fundamental wholeness of human interaction or association.  The common good brings to the fore the reasonable comprehensive moral agreement and moral background culture of normative ideal social order in modern liberal society. Public happiness ought to be the basis of the normative structure of a society. This paper adopts the analytic method in navigating the contextualization and conceptualization of the Form of the Good in Plato’s Republic. This paper, therefore, concludes that Plato emphasizes on the crucial importance of justice and civic education in society. Plato’s Republic advocates for a harmonious society and allows each of its parts of the society to flourish.  Plato agrees with Rousseau that the sole objective of the formation or establishment of the State is to guarantee the highest good of the highest number. The common good is the fundamental objective and the normative foundation of every contemporary society.