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Plato's Republic Plato (427-347 BC) took the idea of an optimally-managed estate a step further with his Republic, which described a utopian society ruled over by philosopher kings known as "guardians". To safeguard against corruption, the guardians will not be allowed to own property or lay their hands on gold or silver, and will receive only a basic living wage. Their interest will therefore be for the wealth of the society as a whole, not themselves. Every task, including the raising of children, would be allocated to specialists. Property would be divided according to mathematical principles. The maximum number of citizens was computed by Plato to be 5,040, which has the property that it is divisible by the numbers 1 through 10 and so can be easily divided into separate administrative groups. Page 8
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'(I ristotle Plato's most famous student was Aristotle (384-322 BC), who wrote and taught on subjects ranging from astronomy to medicine to ethics. He believed that the sole purpose of money was to act as a medium for exchange. As he wrote in Nichomachean Ethics, 'all things are measured by money'. According to Aristotle, the fair distribution of goods could be determined by different mathematical formulae, known as the Pythagorean means. ~ ~ In this case the correct price will be the harmonic mean, which is 96. This number is 20 per cent more than the lower price, but 20 per cent less than the higher price. Just as music was governed by number, so was the idea of just distribution. Page 9

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Plato's Republic

Plato (427-347 BC) took the idea of an optimally-managed estate a step further with his Republic, which described a utopian society ruled over by philosopher kings known as "guardians".

To safeguard against corruption, the guardians will not be allowed to own property or lay their hands on gold or silver, and will receive only a basic living wage.

Their interest will therefore be for the wealth of the society as a whole, not themselves.

Every task, including the raising of children, would be allocated to specialists. Property would be divided according to mathematical principles. The maximum number of citizens was computed by Plato to be 5,040, which has the property that it is divisible by the numbers 1 through 10 and so can be easily divided into separate administrative groups.

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