Confucius Vs. Plato the Relationship Research Proposal

On the other hand, a good individual will be open towards knowledge and learning as a premise to making a contribution and using his knowledge in order to improve the society in which he leaves. Plato does not make this remark, as his main focus is the individual rather than the integration of the individual into organizational forms as a society would be. However, connecting this with the discussion at hand, wisdom, knowledge and truthfulness can be melded not only into an individual product, but also into one at societal level.

Finally, a good individual will need to be harmonious, not necessarily only in his own construction and build, but rather in his perceptions, his approaches towards the surrounding world and his capacity to pass things through his mind before reacting to them into society. Such a harmonious approach, at society level, will bring about a moderate perspective on things and a moderate behavior of society itself, through the presence and participation of the individuals forming it.

At the same time, a good society will be formed of individuals that sum up all these characteristics. Their role will also be that of guardians of the state and government, seen as purely an administrator with only controllable power of the activities in the society. If in the case of Confucius, his belief was in a cooperation between individual and state for the creation of a good, functional society, Plato's center of the world is the individual, with the state having a merely secondary function.

As such, in Plato's belief, the responsibility for a good society relies almost exclusively on the individual, because he is entrusted with all the necessary characteristics and instruments that empower him. Since he is created as the central of the world, in Plato's view, he must also assume the fact he is responsible for the way things are going in society, including by guarding over the state.

Nevertheless, Confucius's perspective is more easy to support and more realistic in describing actual practical cases in society. The responsibility for a good society falls on everyone potentially involved in such a process, so this will include both the state and the individual. First of all, the state needs to create the proper premises to encourage the development of society. This can start anywhere from the rule of law and democratic governance to ensuring that the right legislative framework is in place to encourage individual development and that of society.

At the same time, the state needs to act in order to encourage the individual to create the right economic mechanisms that can be transferred to a superior, societal level, and increase living standards across the board. From this point-of-view, ensuring the right economic environment is also one of the main goals that the state needs to follow.

On the other hand, combining both Confucius's and Plato's beliefs, the individual is ultimately responsible, through the means in which he chooses to act and be a proactive entity, of the development of a good society. Indeed, especially in Plato's perspective, he has all the tools and instruments that are necessary in such a process and, combining with what has been described in the previous paragraph, state has also created the right premises for the individual to assume his role.

Finally, the individual needs to be the 'checks and balances' system by which the power of the state will always be subordinated to the interests and objectives of the individual. This can range anywhere from acting responsibly to limit the power of the government (as in a democracy) to making sure that those entities creating the state are ultimately regulated through the will of the people. Transformation at societal level is also something that each individual is likely to eventually monitor. However, this is probably usually done through a return to the individual and the way he…