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Arif Taruz
2-18-14
Censorship in The Republic
Censorship is the suppression of speech, writing, and other forms of public

communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect

or inconvenient as determined by a government, media outlet or other controlling body. The use
of censorship has occurred throughout history, and continues into the modern era. Censorship
comes in many different forms and can be used for a variety of reasons.
The form of censorship that most people in the modern age are familiar with is
censorship of material deemed inappropriate or immoral. This type of censorship is typically
used to keep inappropriate material away from children, although it is also used to prevent adults
from experiencing things that they may find objectionable. Material that contains vulgar
language, sexual themes, or violence is often censored for this reason. In addition, material that
is deemed racist or otherwise hateful may also be censored for this reason.
Another common type of censorship is political censorship. Political censorship occurs
when governments hold back information from their citizens. This is often done to exert control
over the populace and prevent free expression that may encourage views that are in opposition of
the governments.
While not used much anymore in secular states, religious censorship has often been used
by dominant religions to repress other, smaller religions. Religious censorship is also used by
religious organizations to keep material that is contradictory to their beliefs and harmful to their
organization away from their worshipers.

Much more common than religious censorship in secular, capitalistic states is corporate
censorship. Corporate censorship is used by businesses to keep negative portrayals of their
business and its practices out of the media.
Censorship is also practiced by most military's. Military censorship is used to keep the
moral of soldiers high by keeping unpleasant information from them. Censorship in the military
is also used to keep sensitive and classified material from a military's enemies, so that that
information cannot be used against itself.
One of the interesting uses of censorship is in the guidance of education. Censorship can
be used to keep material that can be detrimental to a students education away from that student.
This kind of censorship allows educators to focus a students education and make sure
information that would hinder that education is kept away from students. This kind of censorship
also involves keeping stories that advocate beliefs that are in opposition to what educators want
students to believe away from students. This is the type of censorship that Plato advocates in his
book The Republic.
To Plato, censorship of information and stories was a vital part of his ideal republic. The
reason for this is that the society in Platos Republic is based strongly on the idea of
specialization. Specialization is the idea that a person has one skill or one set of skills in the form
of a profession that they are best at, and that by focusing only on that skill can a person become
an ideal member of society. In Platos Republic, society is divided into three different classes.
First there the workers and craftsmen who create, build, and produce raw material for the use of
others in the Republic. Second, there are the Auxiliaries, who make up the military of the
Republic. These are warriors who defend the Republic from its enemies and enforce its laws. The

final class in the Republic is the rulers. These philosopher kings rule the Republic, make its laws,
and make sure that society runs properly.
As a child grew up in the Republic, it would be determined by his teachers what class he
would be suited to join. At that point the education of the child would be tailored to best prepare
him to ideally serve in the class he was chosen for. As part of this education, teachers would
censor information and stories deemed detrimental to learning from the student. This is discussed
in book 2 of The Republic a great deal, notably the starting paragraph of 377c.
Then it seems that our first business is to supervise the production of stories, and choose
only those we think suitable, and reject the rest. We shall persuade mothers and nurses to tell our
chosen stories to their children, and by means of them to mold their minds and characters which
are more important than their bodies. The greatest part of the stories current today we shall have
to reject. (Book Two, 377c, The Republic)
This type of educational censorship is not particularly common in the modern era. It
seems as though people in the modern age view censorship more as a tool to keep people from
becoming educated, as opposed to a tool to help people become effectively educated. It is
interesting that censorship can be used in seemingly opposite ways.
The type of censorship that Plato proposes would work very effectively in his ideal
society. However, it does not really have a place in modern society. The reason for this is that
most modern cultures do not have a firm castes system, and overall our society is more complex.
However, Platos use of censorship is certainly a better alternative to the type of censorship that
is prevalent nowadays.

Citations"Censorship." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Feb. 2014. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

Plato, H. D. P. Lee, and M. S. Lane. The Republic. London: Penguin, 2007. Print.