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In the fifth chapter of Plato: A Very Short Introduction, titled "Virtue, in me and my society," author Julia Annas, tells us how Plato felt about self-virtue and virtue in his society.

Individually, people want to live a good life. A good life is achieved by seeking happiness, living an ethical life, and a life lived that is both admirable and enviable.

Many people think in both modern and ancient times that a happy person is one who is rich, secure and has achieved something in life. It surely wouldn’t be someone that was rejected and unsuccessful and yet Plato admired Socrates who was just that. Socrates gave up worldly success for philosophy and was condemned and executed for it; still, Plato believed he lived an admirable life. Are people therefore wrong on how to achieve and live a happy life? A consensus among the people was that happiness is achieved by having what most people think are good – like health, wealth, and good looks. Plato disagrees with this view saying these attributes are not useful unless someone does the right things with them. He further describes these attributes as human goods and is not of value until they are combined with divine goods which are virtues such as courage and justice. Virtue is what matters and is the deciding factor on whether someone is happy. Plato argues we should not compromise our values no matter what. He further states that these divine goods are not on par with the human goods but should be the defining and controlling factors in our lives, and everything else is immaterial.

There are some reading where even this is not enough and the view that we should be perfect and more godlike prevails. In Theaetetus Plato tells us, "For, in life as it is, there is no such thing as really being virtuous, being perfect – that is why we should try to flee as fast as we can from the world here to the world there. This flight is coming to be like a god as far as is possible, and this coming to be like God is coming to be just and pious, with understanding." In ancient Greece, this idea of becoming like God would have been shocking and sinful, but this is not what Plato was considering. What he had in mind was to be like God in philosophical terms. God is purely good and to become like God is to be as perfect as a human can be.

How does one educate people to be virtuous? Plato taught that virtue is a practical kind of knowledge and it would take intelligence to gain merit. Aristotle thought it would be wise to use a virtuous role model for the community to emulate and also criticize their thoughts and action, thus developing as one goes along. Plato was not in agreement with Aristotle, because of the ill effects the arts, especially drama and poetry had on the community. In Laws, radical reforms of dialogue in the arts that encouraged selfish and uncooperative attitudes and weakened a person’s creativity and imagination were needed in the community to achieve moral growth in its citizens. The moral development of its citizens collectively would form Plato's vision of the ideal society.

Are there any other obstacles to the ideal community? What about politics? Plato believes there’s is not a big difference between community and state. The only political problem was competitive individualism. Plato sought reforms to produce an ideal state, one whose citizens have life goals that are shared among its people and not one that individuals keep in their own houses and enjoy privately. After all, democracy was a hazard, because it rejected the idea that expertise should not direct a society.

Annas concludes by saying Plato believes democracy is the worst kind of government, but could do better only in an ideal world, but is adamant about the importance of an individual’s virtue regardless of the state of the actual world.

Questions:

Would you label Plato, a socialist for being communal minded even though he realized this ‘ideal state' was not the best working option as was a democracy?

Is Plato trying to describe a utopian society in Laws and the Republic?