The Republic as Er Myth: Plato’s Iconoclastic Utopianism

Abstract

In the twentieth century, the Nazi death camps, the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge, the Soviet gulags, and the Maoist counter-revolutionary campaigns, rather than the pacific, enlightened society envisioned by Sir Thomas More, were seen by many luminaries of the liberal tradition as the truest expression of utopianism. Karl Popper identifies Plato as the root source of the “utopian social engineering” that led to the deaths of millions. This article provides an alternative reading of Plato’s Republic in an attempt to resuscitate the concept of utopia while steering it clear of the kinds of abuses Popper and others so rightly decry. It argues that Plato is educating his audience to the dangers of the utopian social engineering that Popper accuses him of promoting.