Plato's ensouled city
A metaphor for the mind of a just ruler or a template for tyranny?
This is Who made our minds?, my Thursday essay probing the greatest, cruellest and most beautiful minds of the past 5,000 years, inspired by my book, The Soul: A History of the Human Mind (Penguin 2024). Next week: Aristotle’s idea of the soul
Starting in January 2025: A grand tour of Judaism, Christianity and Islam
LET’S BUILD A CITY in the image of ourselves.
Our ideal city will be ruled by a ‘philosopher king’, protected by a tribe of ‘guardians’ and inhabited by artisans, soldiers and slaves. It will be a just and benevolent dictatorship.
We’ll ban art, because art is a poor imitation of reality and corrupts the young. At any rate, our ideal city won’t need to imitate reality because it’ll be ideal.
We’ll have no need of social criticism, satire or parody, because critics, satirists and parodists are superfluous in a perfect city.
And we’ll impose st…