What is Noble Lie?
A noble lie is defined as something that is not true or it is a myth. It is not compulsorily of a religious background; it is uttered knowingly by an elite person so as to either maintain the harmonic situation in the society or one’s position in the society. It is a concept that was formed by Plato and was described in his collection of works, The Republic. A noble lie spoken does not essentially prove to be beneficial for all the parties concerned with it. It is quite different as compared to a white lie because a white lie is not responsible for the arousal of any complications or conflicts if it is unfurled. On the contrary, there might arise a conflicting situation in case a noble lie is uncovered.

Plato’s Republic
Plato has a given an illusionary description which is called as the noble lie or also as the magnificent myth in his work, The Republic. It contains the origins of three classes in the society which is divided in a hierarchical fashion. In such a society, the population is told a story about how every person is born from the same mother, the mother earth, and everyone have brotherly relations with each other from the birth. But, even though this is the case, various kinds of metal represent the different types of people living in the society. Rulers are represented by gold, auxiliaries or common people by silver whereas farmers as represented by iron and bronze. The successors of rulers may have gold but some of them can have bronze or silver as they will be demoted to the lower classes in the classification of the society. Also, auxiliaries or farmers can get promoted and move on to the higher classes in the hierarchy of the society. Plato was of the opinion that even if this story is not true in a literal sense, there would be a well-ordered society in place and it will explain these three defined classes as integral and important parts of the society if and only if the people believed in it. This is the true form and sense of the noble lie that Plato had devised so that it can serve the same function which was being served by other myths at that time.

Description: This article describes about the theory of Noble lie which is a well written and widely acclaimed supposition put forward by Plato during his times.