The Republic by Plato - 4 - The Noble Lie
Book Five
Quote
"Now, can we devise one of those lies — the kind which crop up as the occasion demands, which we were talking about not long ago — so that with a single noble lie we can indoctrinate the rulers themselves, preferably, but at least the rest of the community?"
Notes
Socrates continues the discussion about the guardians they're training to rule the community. The guardians will actually be split into two kinds: rulers and auxiliaries (ie soldiers). They must be carefully observing everyone in the community from childhood to scout out who is showing early signs that they could make a good guardian.
He also says they need to develop a founding myth for the community that would explain/justify the class system and all the rules and customs they're developing. This "noble lie" must convince everyone that they were "formed and nurtured deep inside the earth," and now they must "regard the country they find themselves in as their mother and their nurse, they must defend her against invasion, and they should think of the rest of the inhabitants as their earth-born brothers."
However, even though they are all earth-born brothers, the myth will explain that each one of them has been created for different purposes and with different materials. Some were made with gold to be rulers, others with silver to be soldiers, and still others with copper or iron to be the workers.
The guardians, both rulers and soldiers, must have no private property and the myth will reinforce this, too. In fact, both affluence and poverty must be prevented since both are equally harmful. Socrates argues that poverty and affluence both lead to innovation, among other things, which they do not want.
All these things will help make the community unified and strong so that even when facing a large enemy they still won't be defeated. Any other community without their structure will be divided within and too distracted by wealth which will make them weak.
Socrates returns to education briefly to say that it's the most important thing when it comes to developing proper character, and if you have that then the need for legislation to regulate people's behaviour becomes less necessary. Numerous laws can't correct for bad character.
Interestingly, related to the laws of the community, Socrates says that they have to watch out for new kinds of music: "Caution must be taken in adopting an unfamiliar type of music: it is an extremely risky venture, since any change in the musical modes affects the most important laws of a community."
Key Takeaways
Who are the ones who will be indoctrinating even the rulers of the community with this noble lie? It seems like someone will need to be aware that the community's founding myth is made up, at least the people creating it. Will those people be above even the guardians? Are they part of the community? Or are they like a secret shadow government, pulling the strings on their puppet rulers? The totalitarian thread of this community continues.
Is innovation bad? Socrates says that both too much wealth and too much poverty create conditions that lead to innovation, which is a threat to the community. Innovation is change, and it seems that Plato/Socrates views that as a danger that will lead to the community's unraveling. But one could easily take the opposite view and say that a community that doesn't change will stagnate and die. Society needs to adapt to change as well, doesn't it?