(By Ekinsu Çamur)
(i)
Vast majority in all
cultures and societies perceive incest relationships as moral taboos. Today, most
of the people avoid themselves even thinking about this topic and most of the
countries accept incest relationships as crime in their codifications (Hughes
330). However how is incest regulated in the ideal state of Socrates? Is it legalized
or is it accepted as crime?
First of all the
concept of ‘incest’ should be defined.
Incest: “Sexual relations
between people classed as being too closely relate to marry each other.”
(Oxford Dcitionary, 25 Dec. 2013)
“The crime of having sexual
intercourse with a parent, child, sibling, or
grandchild.” (Oxford Dcitionary, 25 Dec. 2013)
Is it possible to have incest in Socrates’ ideal
state or not?
In Plato’s
Republic, Socrates creates a huge family, which is formed by guardians, namely
the ruling class. In this ideal city of Socrates, family members have to share
everything in common except their own bodies (Plato 464d). Thus, everyone has
common mothers, fathers, siblings and other relatives. Additionally, no one is
allowed to select his/her own husband and wife but one is forced to marry
selected partners, which are determined by a lottery (Plato 460d).
This scheme leads
us to an argument:
(1) It is
accepted that everyone has common fathers and common mothers. That’s why
everybody is sibling in the society.
(2) One has to
marry a selected partner who is his/her relative as everybody is sibling.
Therefore; there
is a great possibility to have incest relationships in the ideal city of
Socrates.
Now it is clear
that incest relationships exist in high ratios in Socrates’ ideal state,
however is it allowed or banned?
Socrates realizes
this situation and even he perceives incest as a threat for the society. That
is why he wants to prohibit incest in the society: “we will leave them free to
have sex with whomever they wish, with these exceptions: for a man- his
daughter, his mother, his daughters’ children and his mother’s ancestors and
same for the women” (Plato 461c).
What are the
suggested solutions to prohibit the incest in the society?
Socrates
determines groups in the society: a man and a women, who became bridegroom and
bride, will call all children as their sons and daughters who born in the tenth
or seventh month after their marriage (Plato 461d). As a result, groups of
fathers, mothers, grandmothers and grandfathers will occur and relevant groups
are not allowed to have sexual relations with each other (Plato 461e). However these solutions are not enough to
disallow incest relationships: “The law will allow brothers and sisters to have
sex with one another if the lottery works out that way” (Plato 461e). Although
his solution bans the sexual relations between mothers and children or fathers
and children, it does not ban the incest between the brothers and sisters.
Thus, his solution works partially but it still allows siblings to have sexual
intercourse.
As a result, it
can be said that incest is neither legalized nor decriminalized in Socrates’
ideal city. Although he remarks the possibility of incest in the society and he
tries to solve this alleged problem, he could not find any system to totally
solve it. Incest is accepted as a moral taboo. Acting against moral taboos in
the society causes chaos and society will crumble. Incest is not allowed
explicitly but it is nearly impossible to prohibit. Therefore, Socrates allows
acting against moral taboos in his ‘ideal’ state. However, it is a vital
problem which may even cause the destruction of his ideal state.
References
(i)
Unknown Artist. “Forbidden Kiss”. Deviantart.
n.d. n.p. Web. 25 Dec. 2013
<http://www.deviantart.com/morelikethis/artists/80005071?view_mode=2>
Hughes,
Graham. “The Crime of Incest”. Journal of
Criminal Law and Criminology.
55 (1964): 322-331. Web.
Oxford
Dictionaries. Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. N.d. Web. 12
Dec 2013. <http://www.oxforddictionaries.com>
Plato. Republic. Indianapolis/Cambridge:
Hackett Publishing Company, 1992. Print.
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