Because of his aristocratic attitudes and of his early disgust with the experiments in democracy in his day, Plato turned away in his social philosophy from the direct study of the people, such as had engaged the attention of Socrates, to a search for a just society in the world of ideas. This line of thinking found expression chiefly in the _Republic_, written during Plato’s mature manhood. A discussion of these idealistic concepts is found in the _Laws_ and the _Politicus_, the latter being written in Plato’s old age and representing a partial reaction from the idealism of the _Republic_. Because of its consideration of nearly every aspect of social life from a specific viewpoint, the _Republic_ may be called the first treatise in social philosophy. While it falls below the social writings of the Hebrews in its dynamic and practical phases, it excels them in its unity, its profundity, and its philosophic quality. Inasmuch as Plato had turned away from an inviting though strenuous public career to a private life of scholarly thought, his perfect society assumed characteristics that were far from mundane. Because Plato lived in a day of small political groups and in a country of limited size, he limited his ideal society--to a group represented by 5040 heads of families. Consequently it is impossible to apply Plato’s social ideas with accuracy to a modern metropolitan center of 5,000,000 people, or to a nation-state of 100,000,000 people. Several phases of Plato’s thought, however, were given a practical turn in the _Laws_. In revealing Plato’s social philosophy, the _Politicus_, or _Statesman_ ranks third.[V-12] In Plato’s ideal society there is a hierarchy of rank, which includes three classes of people: the rulers, or true guardians; the soldiers, or auxiliaries; and the artisans, or the industrial and agricultural workers. In introducing the ideal state Plato uses mature individuals.[V-13] Out of the needs and through the activities of fully-developed persons, Plato builds an ideal commonwealth. No individual is self-sufficing. Each has his peculiar bias, or ability. By uniting, all will profit. There are not only specialized classes, but there is specialization within the occupational groups. An essential rule for the building of a just society is that each individual shall find his place in the social order and shall fulfil his special function. Plato recognized the need for correlating the diversities of nature and the different types of occupation.[V-14]