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Plato and Family Values

 

            The statement "Family values teach us many wonderful things -- but justice .
             is not one of them," seems to follow very closely with the opinion of Plato .
             in his Republic. He maintains that the teaches unity which, when applied on .
             a grand scale, can lead to justice but that the unity of private families .
             will only lead to unjust favoring of one's kin and to factionalism that is .
             inherently unjust.  From this, Plato develops a plan in which he establishes .
             a communal family for his entire Just City that he believes will bring both .
             unity and justice to his city.  However, it is my contention that not only .
             can the private family teach and lead to justice but that Plato's plan for a .
             communal family will not lead to justice. .
             The second major contention is that Plato's means for dealing with the .
             private family in his Just City will not bring about justice.  Plato's plan .
             seems to rest upon the notion that by implementing communal child rearing .
             and by treating the entire city as one family, he can have the benefits of .
             the private family, namely the unity it creates amongst family members, .
             without the injustice it creates.  However, from this course of action it .
             appears only two scenarios can come about, neither of which will create .
             justice. .
             First, if one were to follow Plato's logic and assume that everyone will .
             truly treat everyone else in the city as a family member then initial .
             reasoning for why a family is unjust will still hold true but now it will be .
             on a far grander scale. The problem Plato has with the private family is .
             that members of the family would favor each other more and would defend each .
             other even when a defense was impossible simply because a member of my .
             family is "my own."" By Plato's definition, such favoring  would be .
             considered  terribly unjust. .
             The problem is, if Plato's believes that it is unjust to favor one person .


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