Plato’s republic as a vocation

Abstract

“Plato’s Republic, as a Vocation” offers a revisionary account of Plato’s theses that each person should do the one job, and that this job is one she is suited by nature to perform. Starting from reflections on Max Weber's and Sheldon Wolin’s respective accounts of politics and political theory as vocation, he examines the institutional design of the Kallipolis, and the implications of Plato’s various remarks about how, when, and who is educated in Plato’s Republic,. The aim of the Kallipolis, and its structures is to promote the betterment of all the citizens, as opposed to the promotion of a select few in order to establish a secure, stable polis. If we consider how we the readers are to regard the differences between those who complete the entire fifty years of education and those who “drop out” to pursue a calling in geometry, astronomy, the law, or public administration, the notion that each person, especially each “golden-souled” person, is born to do one task seems less and less plausible. Rather than rely on a principle of antecedent nature, this essay argues that provided that some citizens become philosophers, it makes little difference what even most of the golden and silver do.