Editing Plato (section)

=== Politics ===
{{main|Plato's political philosophy}}
[[File:POxy3679 Parts Plato Republic.jpg|thumb|[[Oxyrhynchus Papyri]], with fragment of Plato's ''Republic'']]
The dialogues also discuss politics. Some of Plato's most famous doctrines are contained in the ''Republic'' as well as in the ''[[Laws (dialogue)|Laws]]'' and the ''Statesman''. Because these opinions are not spoken directly by Plato and vary between dialogues, they cannot be straightforwardly assumed as representing Plato's own views.

Socrates asserts that societies have a tripartite class structure corresponding to the appetite/spirit/reason structure of the individual soul. The appetite/spirit/reason are analogous to the castes of society.{{sfn|Blössner|2007|pp=345–349}}
* ''Productive'' (Workers)&nbsp;– the labourers, carpenters, plumbers, masons, merchants, farmers, ranchers, etc. These correspond to the "appetite" part of the soul.
* ''Protective'' (Warriors or Guardians)&nbsp;– those who are adventurous, strong and brave; in the armed forces. These correspond to the "spirit" part of the soul.
* ''Governing'' (Rulers or Philosopher Kings)&nbsp;– those who are intelligent, rational, self-controlled, in love with wisdom, well suited to make decisions for the community. These correspond to the "reason" part of the soul and are very few.

According to Socrates, a state made up of different kinds of souls will, overall, decline from an aristocracy (rule by the best) to a [[timocracy]] (rule by the honourable), then to an oligarchy (rule by the few), then to a [[democracy]] (rule by the people), and finally to [[tyranny]] (rule by one person, rule by a tyrant).{{sfn|Blössner|2007|p=350}}