Explain Plato’s Utopian vision for a just society. In your view, what would be some of the beneficial or harmful effects of a society based solely on merit, as Plato proposed?
To determine citizens’ aptitudes and talents, Plato favored testing them while they are young. Is it possible to discover the best career for someone this way? What about people who discover or develop their true talents later in life? Is Plato too optimisticabout the ease of discovering a person’s true calling?
Don’t we reward athletes, doctors, lawyers, and business executives according to their merit and not by democratic vote? Should our leaders be chosen the same way, as Plato suggests? Why or why not?
Respond to thePhilosophyNowexercise questions on page363 concerning”Merit or Equality:Who Gets to Live?”
Hobbes believes that there is no such thing as justice until the Leviathan is established. This means that justice does not exist independently of an authority to define and enforce it. Explain why you agree or disagree with this view.