'Is there anything worse for a state than to b...

2010-03-31T14:02:22.674+01:00

'Is there anything worse for a state than to be split and fragmented, or anything better than cohesion and unity?

[...] What is more, such a state most nearly resembles an individual. For example, when one of us hurts his finger, the whole partnership of body and soul, constituting a single organism under a ruling principle, perceives it and is aware as a whole of the pain suffered by the part, and so we say that the man in question has a pain in his finger. And the same holds good of any other part in which a man suffers pain or enjoys pleasure.'

'Yes,' he agreed, 'and, as you said, the same thing is most nearly true of the best-run communities.'

'That is because such a community will regard the individual who experiences gain or loss as a part of itself, and be glad or sorry as a whole accordingly.'

[Plato]
The Republic (Penguin Classics Edition), p.176-7

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'Is there anything worse for a state than to b...