Republic
There
are many philosophers that I could have chosen to write about but there is none
more fascinating to me than Plato. After
reading Republic it is easier to
comprehend what exactly philosophy is and why it is so important to where we
are today. One of the major concepts
that I will go in depth to is Plato’s view of justice and why it is beneficial
to a society. Even though Socrates,
Polemarchus, Glaucon and Thrasymachus have dialectic in understanding the
concept of justice, it is believed that justice is the most fundamental of the
human virtues, and a just city incorporates arête and the principle of unity
Mainly
in Republic, Plato incorporates the
concept of justice as being the preeminent good for a just person. He believes that justice should be dealt with
on a level of truth. In finding out what
justice means, you must first understand truth by realizing what is real, and
what it means to be a human. Plato also
believes that a person must have ethos to understand truth. A person must be ethical and figure out how
to be true to oneself and others and also figure out how to reach
excellence. Excellence is defined by
another word known as arête, and in order to reach arête, a person must be
just. Plato wants to restructure the society and make sure that there is
justice and equal rights for everybody.
If all people in a community are just then Plato believes it will lead
to a perfect polis (city).
Some
of the major characters in Republic
have different views on what it means to be a just person and what it means to
the community to have justice. Coming
from Athens, Socrates is one of Plato’s most loyal and educated students who
has been enlightened and is trying to spread the philosophy of justice to
others. Polemarchus and his brother
Thrasymachus approached Socrates and listened to his enlightened words about
justice, but there is dialectic between each of the men’s beliefs. There are also characters in the book such as
Adeimantus and Glaucon who are interested in Socrates concept of justice but
they want him to prove that real justice is able to exist in a community.
Socrates
has been enlightened and is known for being the seeker of truth. He believes that speaking truth and repaying
ones debts is one way to have justice, but also goes on to say that justice is
giving to friends and enemies what is appropriate to teach and a just man must
give another person back whatever debt may be owed (R Book1 331b). In further detail, Socrates states that
justice is not only the advantage of the stronger person but also it is the
goodness of a ruler who doesn’t seek his own advantages but that of all his
subjects. In other words, Socrates
believes that a just ruler is that of a man who cares for himself, but also all
of the other people in his community.
Book 1 of Republic
deals with justice in the views of both Socrates and Thrasymachus. Thrasymachus says to Socrates, “Someone who
is believed to be good and is good is a friend; someone who is believed to be
good, and is not, is believed to be a friend but is not. And the same goes for enemies” (R Book 1
335a). This is then answered back by
Socrates in saying, “Then we said it is just to treat friends well and enemies
badly. To treat a friend well, provided
he is good, and to harm an enemy provided he is bad”. Socrates speaks about human condition in that
justice is the advantage of the stronger.
In other words he is saying that justice is a human virtue that can only
be used to your own advantages. Socrates
supports his argument on justice by stating that good people are not able to
use their virtues or goodness to make people bad, but instead Socrates believes
that being just is something advantageous and should be used to help make
something or someone better as a person.
Of course to every argument there is
always another side, which brings up another character in Republic, Thrasymachus.
There is dialectic between what Socrates thinks about justice and what
Thrasymachus believes to hold true regarding justice. Thrasymachus believes that justice is only
for the privileged people in the city and that it is exclusive for certain
people. He says, “the life of an unjust
person is better than that of a just one” (R Book1 347e). He asks whether an unjust city would unjustly
enslave other cities and succeed in enslaving them and Socrates answers by
saying that the city will become stronger with the help of justice. Everybody has the ability to be a just person
and if you can hold true to this virtue then it would be a perfect polis. Although there is dialectic between
Thrasymachus and Socrates’ view on justice, it still relates back to Plato’s
idea that a republic is a government that deals with justice and truth.
The Republic also deals with the
idea that justice is desirable but it also has its own consequences. A young apprentice of Socrates named Glaucon
says that justice can be divided into three classes. One class is the things that people desire
for their own benefits. Another class is
the things that people desire for their own sake to achieve happiness and the
highest class are things that people desire for their own sake. For example, good health and knowledge are
things that people desire for their own sake.
Towards the end of Book 2, the principle of education is discussed and
how it has both good and bad states. According to Plato, he believes that
education determines what images and ideas the soul processes and what
activities the soul can or cannot engage in.
Socrates argues that without education there would be no justice in a
city and Glaucon agrees with this thought.
It is concluded by this that education transforms a hierarchical city
into a city that is pure and just.
As you read deeper into Republic you will find that Plato
believes justice and the rational law of numbers helps to govern the universe.
The rational law of numbers is better known as the principle of Natural
Division, which is discussed in detail by Socrates. “The city, was thought to
be just because each of the three natural classes within it did its own job;
and to be temperate, courageous and wise, because of certain other conditions
or states of these same classes” (R Book4 435b). This passage is saying that a just man will
help spawn a just city, even if there are three different social classes. Justice is said to be the most fundamental of
all of the human virtues. Throughout
Book 4 the text discusses how “Arête” should relate to virtues. In other words, Plato believes one must be
excellent at their craft to relate to their human virtues such as justice. The Sophists had the power to teach arête and
they believed that virtues are eventually one, however Socrates disagreed and
says that a healthy republic requires different virtues. The rational part of people makes ideas and
concepts become real, and things aren’t how they appear.
One
of the last ideas mentioned in Republic is
known as “The Allegory of the Cave”.
This is a very famous metaphor from Plato’s philosophy and it is meant
to show how education affects the human soul.
It is discussed in this Book 7 that there are four different stages in
the human soul. The lowest stage is
imagination and that is what your mind thinks something looks like. The next stage is belief and it is something
in your mind that is formative. The third
stage is thought and it is analyzing things that you read. The final and
highest stage is understanding and this is how your mind processes what is read
and thought. “In the knowable realm, the last thing to be seen is the form of
the good. Once one has seen it, one must
infer that it is the cause of all that is correct and beautiful in anything,
that in the visible realm it produces both light and its source, and that in
the intelligible realm it controls and provides truth and understanding.” (R
Book7 517c) In other words, these four
stages attribute to knowledge but they do not aim at gaining knowledge for the
soul, in fact they are there to try and direct the soul towards the desires
that one has. The four different stages
to the human soul is a form of finding truth, and as discussed before, justice
should be dealt with on a level of truth.
There
is much dialectic in what it means to have justice and why a city needs justice
but I agree with what Plato has argued.
As discussed before, Plato believes his concept of justice is preeminent
good for a just person and it is the most fundamental of all of the human
virtues. I agree that justice is the
most fundamental of the human virtues because it incorporates so many different
ideas such as truth, unity, education, and equal rights.
Aside
from this, Plato believes justice should be dealt with on a level of truth and
I completely agree. I believe that if
one is not known to be a true or loyal person then they are not a just person. Plato’s view on Natural Division is
definitely beneficial to where we are today in the world. According to Thom Brooks, a
philosophy examiner from Great Britain says, “Nearly
every major philosophy, from Plato and beyond, has argued that democracy is an
inferior form of government, at best. Yet, virtually every contemporary
political philosophy working today endorses democracy in one variety or
another” (Brooks, T. Vol 53 pg 27). . I agree with this in that our
democracy here in America takes some of the ancient philosophy ideas that Plato
had. Even though there are
different social classes here in the United States, there are still officials
elected by the people of the country in order to have just citied. Having justice in a society would mean that
there is no separate education and there are equal rights between all people,
which is exactly the way Americans are living.
Plato believed a just man would help spawn a just city, and Americans
elect officials that they deem to be just.
Although there is
dialectic between people in understanding Plato’s concept of justice, it is
believed that justice is the most fundamental of the human virtues, and a just
city incorporates arête and the principle of unity. Plato believed that a just
city is one that has equal rights and education as well as civilized truth
among one another and I find this to be true.
Citation
Brooks, Thom. "Bulletin
of the Society of Great Britain." Plato, Hegel,
and Democracy. 53.24
(2006): 27.
C.D.C. Reeve, and Plato. Republic.
Indianapolis: Hacket Publishing Company, 2004.
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