James Devone wrote:>>
Plato's "totalitarianism" really only applies --to the extent that it
really does -- to the Guardians (who are brainwashed, lack individual
property, control over who they marry, etc.)...<<
Shane Mage asks:>So, you regard Socrates' prescriptions--equality between the sexes, abolition of private property and the patriarchal family, higher education, etc.--as prescriptions for *totalitarianism*?<
no. I thought it was clear that I don't like the word at all (since total control is impossible). My point was that the people outside the elite were not the subject of Plato's "totalitarian" restrictions. My point was _in comparison to the lower orders_. I don't think I'd call Plato's restrictions socialist, either.
(BTW, of all the dialogues, my understanding from the experts is that it's clearest in the REPUBLIC that Plato is the mind behind "Socrates.")
JD
