Confucius vs. Plato the Relationship

Confucius vs. Plato The relationship between state and individual is so solid and their paths are so intertwined that the most reasonable thing would be to assume that both the individual and the state contribute to making a "good society." One of the ideas, for example, is to analyze the role that Confucius assigns to the government, as the main representative and practical representation of the state, an otherwise ideal entity. Government's most important role, according to Confucius, is to ensure the prosperity of its people.

In the Analects, the section dedicated to government begins with the following statement "to rule a country of a thousand chariots, there must be reverent attention to business, and sincerity; economy in expenditure, and love for men; and the employment of people at the proper seasons" (page 142). This is certainly a very encompassing statement in terms of Confucius's expectation of the societal role of the government and how the state can get involved into the development of a good society.

The statement that Confucius makes this similar to a governmental program aimed at ensuring widespread prosperity and increased standards of living for the population. The key role of the government and his role as an actors in society is to stimulate business and entrepreneurship, be thrifty and make economies in expenditure and provide a high level of employment, also by being able to utilize people at the proper seasons. All these will provide the "confidence of the people" as the ultimate form of interrelation between state and individual.

The same paragraph about the role of the government provides some essential things that the government should not do in order to have a responsible and positive role in society. These include not being oppressive, cruel, injurious and stingy. All these are ways in which an efficient and effective government will not act so that its role in society will be a positive one.

On the other hand, as previously mentioned in the first paragraph, this is not a singular and unilateral relationship: the individual, including in his collective form as a people, has his own obligations which contribute to making a good society. Being faithful is definitely one of these, but the role of the individual does not necessarily translate only in a passive approach, as in being faithful.

The role of the individual needs to be a proactive one, the individual needs to assume leadership and develop himself so that he may contribute to the development of society. From this perspective, Confucius's ideas in the paragraph referring to the government really mark the intrinsic relationship and connection between state and the individual in the creation of a sustainable and good society. The government's role is to create the proper conditions in which the individual can develop, however, it will not push the individual into developing himself.

The proactive approach of the individual will need to include activities and behaviors that will promote and improve society in its entirety. For Plato, the focus is almost entirely on the individual and on the relationship the individual has with himself, as the initial and fundamental premise of his behavior as a good citizen and his contribution to a good society.

Plato's evaluation is based on the rationality that a society is formed of individual, so if the individual is harmonious and well-developed, society, being formed of a multitude of individuals, can probably be in no other way. The individual who will make a good society will posses a set of fundamental characteristics. First of all, the individual will possess truthfulness, being defined as the fact that "they will never intentionally receive into their minds falsehoods and they will love the truth" (Page 147).

The projection of this into a good society is that the society will be transparent in its mechanisms and its approaches and will provide the appropriate means by which the state and governmental institutions can also be in the same manner, because of the initial, individual truthfulness. On the other hand, a good individual will be open towards knowledge and learning as a premise to making a contribution and using his knowledge in order to improve the society in which he leaves.

Plato does not make this remark, as his main focus is the individual rather than the integration of the individual into organizational forms as a society would be. However, connecting this with the discussion at hand, wisdom, knowledge and truthfulness can be melded not only into an individual product, but also into one at societal level.

Finally, a good individual will need to be harmonious, not necessarily only in his own construction and build, but rather in his perceptions, his approaches towards the surrounding world and his capacity to pass things through his mind before reacting to them into society. Such a harmonious approach, at society level, will bring about a moderate perspective on things and a moderate behavior of society itself, through the presence and participation of the individuals forming it.

At the same time, a good society will be formed of individuals that sum up all these characteristics. Their role will also be that of guardians of the state and government, seen as purely an administrator with only controllable power of the activities in the society. If in the case of Confucius, his belief was in a cooperation between individual and state for the creation of a good, functional society, Plato's center of the world is the individual, with the state having a merely secondary function.

As such, in Plato's belief, the responsibility for a good society relies almost exclusively on the individual, because he is entrusted with all the necessary characteristics and instruments that empower him. Since he is created as the central of the world, in Plato's view, he must also assume the fact he is responsible for the way things are going in society, including by guarding over the state. Nevertheless, Confucius's perspective is more easy to support and more realistic in describing actual practical cases in society.

The responsibility for a good society falls on everyone potentially involved in such a process, so this will include both the state and the individual. First of all, the state needs to create the proper premises to encourage the development of society. This can start.