Many readers from Plato's time to our own are struck, like Glaucon, by Socrates' proposals at this point; they seem in some instances to be outlandish and almost inhuman. But Socrates' intent, here as elsewhere, is to preserve the unity of his ideal state, no matter the sacrifices entailed in ensuring this aspect of the state. The major objection to Socrates' proposals herein is that these theories, if effected, would in fact de-personalize almost every aspect of the state. Yes, Socrates agrees, that would in fact be the case, and that is what he intends. Personal ambitions, greeds, and petty personal jealousies are the very things that disrupt the state. They breed animosities among and between people. Socrates wants unity and harmony in the state, at whatever cost.
A principal objection to Plato's state-in-becoming, at this point, is that it is communistic. It is. Another principal objection is to the practice of eugenics in the breeding of more select children. This practice is for the welfare of the state; the capricious practice of marriage for "love" or marriage because of mutual "attraction" is unsound if we wish to produce more ideal citizens to serve the state. In Plato's ideal state, all sexual intercourse would be more strictly umpired than in any civilized society hitherto.
