In The Republic, Socrates discusses the idea of the traditional family and the benefits that it would have on the community to abolish it. Socrates argues that families are the source of injustice in communities and that communities can never reach full potential if families still exist. He believes that the state should generate personal and any kind of familial relations. However, the idea of abolishing the family could cripple the community and hinder vital personal and emotional connections that come with having one. Upholding traditional family values helps to create a more wholesome and productive environment where all people can prosper. Though families can stir up issues, such as loyalty and responsibility, they expose each other to…show more content… He brings up arguments about having divided loyalties within a society that lead to injustice and how women and men must be treated as equal individuals. Families, however, teach many valuable personal characteristics that can benefit a society and keep it united. One of the very important characteristics that the family develops, which Socrates proposes the family represses, is loyalty. Socrates believes that the family corrupts the loyalties of the people because it takes first priority over the community and the state. Though this may be true, Socrates failed to realize that the family does not teach to first be loyal to them and the state second, but they teach how to be loyal and determine where loyalties lie. Families do not require loyalty, like the state should not. The idea of the family is to teach that loyalty is earned and cannot easily be wavered. Some people might only look out for themselves and only display loyalty towards others when it is convenient for them and these people may be considered traditional family. With family there is a more personal connection to loyalty and that transfers to other relationships that are formed outside the immediate family. Another characteristic that the family develops is responsibility. The small things that are required by a traditional family, such as everyday tasks around the home, to more…show more content… Not everything can be fit into a mold, where the same results of a set family are going to be produced repeatedly. However, there will be some outliers that will eventually help the cause in the long run because someone will learn from it. The idea of abolishing the family creates more problems than the family does. For example, it centers a person's life around the state and society entirely. There is no room for individualism and personal development because there are always eyes watching. In a traditional family, personal matters are dealt with privately and away from the state. With the community governing everything from birth, the opinions are really biased. With the state acting as both the parent and governor, the line between what is good for one person versus the whole becomes very murky. Keeping traditional families helps separate the responsibilities of the state so they can focus on what they should be focusing on—governing the state. Though there are problems with Socrates' method that do outweigh the problems with the traditional family, there are nevertheless, problems with the traditional family. Traditional families can be self-destructive and destroy motivations. Sometimes they may not work and it can cause extra stress on the parties involved, which can spill over into other aspects of their life, such as those involving the state. Though this is all
