Note 175 — Chapter III · PLATO

Oncken observes (Geschichte der Nationalökonomie, pp. 34-36) that while Smith drew from the law the idea of freedom of trade and industry, Plato inferred the strictest subordination of these to the will of the state, and that he also based the caste system on the principle. For the alleged caste system, cf. Souchon, op. cit., p. 82, and infra, under distribution. Aristotle’s state implies even a more rigid separation of the capable few. On Plato’s insight into economic principles, cf. Robin, op. cit., pp. 229 ff. He criticizes Guiraud for belittling the value of Plato’s social ideas, and urges that he should be judged, not by the worth of his proposed remedies, but by his scientific insight (p. 252).