The Republic and Over-Specialization

"The Republic and Over-Specialization"

by Walter Jensen

In this paper, I will continue my inquiry into Plato's account of Socrates' discourse on the nature of justice. It will focus on Socrates' society and how it is critically flawed due to its foundation in over-Specialization. I will also show that a social norm of over-specialization in any society would cause more problems then it would solve. Since I have not finished the Republic, I will give predictions why it is highly unlikely that Socrates' society will divulge the true nature of justice.

Before we address the how and why Socrates' society is critically flawed, we must clarify the difference between specialization and over-specialization. Most of us would agree that specialization in any profession is not only good for the individual but also society. You would not allow an auto-mechanic who earned his automotive certificates from the Knoxville Tennessee Academy of Faith Healing to work on your car. Or even worst, a physician working on your injured son or daughter who took a 15-week crash course in medicine. Simple logic leads one to realize that it takes specialized training to acquire the skills to perform any profession well. It is also general knowledge that human beings can have more than one profession: a man can be a surgeon, a teacher, and a father. But this is not the case for Socrates' "perfect" society. He does not promote specialization but "over-specialization." Socrates' job ethic is based on the idea that doing more than one profession or job would be unjust. He believes that every human being has only one skill or talent that makes them ideally suited for one particular job or profession. In Socrates' eyes, if an individual enters into a second profession, that individual is doing wrong to both professions. He feels that the individual is dividing their time, effort, and energy between the two professions, lowering the overall quality of the services or products produced. Socrates introduces Over-Specialization into his "just" society during the conversation with Adeimantus. This is where Socrates takes the idea of over-specialization too far.

Socrates - "The workman must be a professional at the call of his job; his job will not wait till he has leisure to spare it."

Adeimantus - "That is inevitable."

Socrates - "Quantity and quality are therefore more easily produced when a man specializes appropriately on a single job for which he is naturally fitted, and neglects all others." (Lee 60).

Socrates believes that over-specialization is the key to any just society, I disagree. Using Socrates own idea, I shall define over-specialization as a state where one human being can perform only one profession regardless of difficulty and neglects all others.

The first problem with Over-Specialization is how the people are forced to accept any information from the state without question or analysis. According to Socrates,

"Our city is therefore brave too in virtue of a part of itself. That part retains in all circumstances the power to judge, on the basis laid down by our lawgiver in its education, what and what sort of things are to be feared" (Lee 140).

Having a social policy of over-specialization, as the norm, would allow the state to impose what it wanted the citizens to believe, fear, or think about. The state would control what the people think because it would not promote or allow critical thinking skills to flourish. If an individual's opinion on taxation is not the same as the state, what then? If Socrates' society locked up its independent thinkers, the state would be acting unjustly and lose a portion of its creative thinkers. If Socrates' state reverted to mass executions for this infraction, it would be no different than the states controlled by Hitler, Mussolini, or Stalin. This leads one to believe that this "perfect" state would only promote weak egos, a mental state where the individual is extremely susceptible to any form of propaganda, because the individuals would lack the education and understanding of one's own environment due to over-specialization.

Another problem with over-specialization is how it generates low self-esteem within the individual. When a human being performs only one skill, over time and through different circumstances, they develop a confidence in their own ability. This confidence is not transferable unless the individual attains similar skills in a related field. A brain surgeon lacks the confidence to build a Global Area Network and a network information specialist lacks the confidence to perform brain surgery on his wife. Let's also take, for example, a transmission specialist. The transmission specialist would specialize in the repair and maintenance of all forms of transmissions. In Socrates' society, this would be the extent of his profession. If our transmission specialist could learn the skills of a brake specialist, engine specialist, and electrical repair, the transmissions specialist could start to understand the true nature and habits of the repair and maintenance of automobiles. These additional skills would greatly increase the transmission specialist self-esteem and confidence in every aspect of automotive repair. This would also give him the confidence and self-esteem to take on the repair of other mechanical devices of similar nature and design because he is a specialist in several professions.

Over-specialization also causes poor socialization skills. Let us create an example of over-specialization, relative to Socrates historical setting, that will explain my point. Take a cobbler for example. Our cobbler is excellent at making and repairing shoes. Day in and day out, he makes or repairs shoes. This basic fact of his existence causes problems. If our shoemaker is drawn into a conversation or, worst yet, a discourse, he will have nothing to contribute but his knowledge of cobbling. His lack of education and knowledge on any subject but cobbling would not allow him to add any meaningful insight into the conversation or