As for the children so produced, they will have to be raised communally and provided for by citizens designated as nurses. Furthermore, the children are not to be permitted to recognize their birth parents; the children are not to be permitted to develop "old time" family loyalties; in fact, the birth mothers may be at times prohibited from nursing their children, who will be provided with wet-nurses for their needs.
Glaucon and the other participants in the dialogue are at this point experiencing severe doubts about the efficacy of Socrates' plan; they argue that the plan is too unrealistic, that it will seriously disrupt the order of the state, and that the plan is probably impractical. So Socrates has to answer these objections.
Since everything these Guardians now possess is held in communal ownership, there will exist no bickering about private ownership. The old jealousies and squabbles about what is "mine" and what is "yours" and the old ideas about private inheritance will disappear. This has to be seen as the best way to ensure harmony in the state. Since the reasons for internal disorder will have disappeared, this class will function all the more smoothly, because each citizen in the class will feel a common familial bond with every other citizen.
