Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
¶ … Justice in Plato's ideal "Republic"
Plato defines justice as an individual fulfilling his or her own vocational or personal purpose in life, rather than as a state upholding a principle of justice and enabling individuals to live and function in a fair and free manner. For instance, Plato believes that someone who is destined to be a good cobbler should be a cobbler, even if that cobbler may wish to run for higher office and not mend shoes. Instead, the leaders of a just state should decide what that person is most suited to do in life, and insure that he or she performs that function.
Likewise, a potential philosopher-king should not have to design or mend shoes, and thus a cobbler should not be forced to have the responsibilities of governance. A person's form or nature of character follows their vocational function and place in Plato's ideal state. The anti-democratic ethos of Plato's utopian "Republic" is thus crucially related to the philosopher's own unique concept of justice, as justice is defined as a state where everyone is to do their own best work while not interfering with the work of others.
Plato divides the social classes of his state into three distinct tiers. The first tier leads the society. These kings are specially designated from birth to do so, even bred specially to lead. The second, military class of society protects the higher ruling classes from the third and lowest tier of manual laborers and commoners. The justice of this arrangement lies in the overall functionality of the society, and the ability of every individual to achieve his or her perfect purpose, rather than the individual exercising a free and potentially imperfect will and set of desires. Only by ensuring the best people lead will tyranny of the masses be prevented. Ideally, this should also prevent the tyranny of the one, or the individual tyrant, because Socrates believes that the common people are dangerously apt to select unfit rulers to head the state, because tyrants can sway the masses with false rhetoric and use the state for their own enrichment and create an unjust society only amenable to the tyrant.
Plato's Republic Plato Republic In Plato's Republic, he states that democracy is second only to tyranny as the worst form of government because tyranny arises from democracy. This goes against what most people believe of democracy. Today, democracy is viewed as the best political system because the prime tenets of a democracy are freedom and equality. Essentially, democracy is all about free people governing themselves. However, Plato is critical of democracy precisely
From this we need to understand that the existence of entities, beings which superior power and knowledge is accepted. People not only accept that these being actually exist, but they obey their commands. From this one can deduce that morality is connected with power. People obey the commands of the gods because the gods are what they are. The implications are that on the one side, the gods have access
Plato's work is idealistic and, as such, some of the rationale behind many of the conclusions he draws on do not necessarily have a logical or practical motivation. Nevertheless, they are logically tied to most of the assumptions he makes in his work, which is why his conclusions could, ideally, be transposed into the society he had projected. The most important conclusion of his work may be that each part
Socrates: A Just Life Socrates' view on man's search for justice is one of the great guiding lights provided by the Ancient Greek civilization. Provided for civilization through the writings of his student, Plato, Socrates lays the framework for the idea that justice is good and that every man seeks to find through self-examination what good is. From this basic concept, the Socratic method of teaching, which has been passed down
Plato’s Republic: A Definition of Justice According to Plato, “justice is the excellence of the soul, and injustice the defect of the soul” (20). Another definition of it, however, is that justice is “the repayment of a debt” (4). This is a rather narrow definition of justice, and it is one that Socrates unpacks—but it to can get to the heart of the underlying meaning. The just man is one who
If this is true that by the same standard, a person who can keep money can also steal it. Thus a moral person would be at the same time a thief. How can a thief then be moral? After much debate, Socrates states that: "So the claim that it's right and moral to give back to people what they are owed -- if this is taken to mean that