Preview

Persuasion By Peopl Socrates-Just Or Unjust?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
879 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Persuasion By Peopl Socrates-Just Or Unjust?
Plato adopted persuasion by argument to provide an explanation about the societal issues. Therefore, he believes that proper steps have to be taken in order to persuade other groups. Firstly, Socrates strives to use three arguments to support just life in that a just man is good and wise while the unjust person is bad and ignorant. Injustice produces disharmony preventing effective actions, while justice helps one to live a much happier life. It shows that one will choose to be just rather than unjust due to the outcomes that result from both just and unjust behaviors. Plato depicts that evil is not the basis of strength, but of dissolution and discord.
When Socrates is asked to defend justice on its own, but not for the reputation that it brings, he suggests that justice should be found in the city before starting to use the analogy of finding it in an individual. He then uses an example of a just city that aims at satisfying the basic human wants. Some citizens enter into political welfare as no one is independent. Nevertheless,
…show more content…
Moreover, leaders will be interested in wealth rather than respect. It will lead to injustice, as the poor will be left with nothing to depend on leading to high crime rates. The appetitive part of the leaders will dominate their soul as they amass wealth regardless of their impacts on the poor. It may anger the oppressed and make them revolt against their oppressors. Furthermore, tyranny may arise from democracy, as people desire for freedom to do what they feel is right. It can lead to high levels of insecurity forcing the tyrant to employ mercenaries to provide security. The situation would lead to unfavorable living conditions of the citizens more so the poor who may not have the privilege of hiring guards. It will be unjust to have the poor subjected to hardships while the leaders have comfortable

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    In this paper we will show that Glaucon and Thrasymachus' positions on justice are entirely different. We argue that Thrasymachus despite his slippage and confusion between a traditional and immoralist definition of justice, is really intending to illustrate a political system ruled by a rational-minded and exploitative tyrant. On the other hand Glaucon clearly presents justice as a necessary evil originating out of a social contract constructed by the weak of society. He then challenges Socrates to prove to him that the life of a just man is better than the life of an unjust man.…

    • 1831 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    He then comes up with a solution "If we should watch a city coming into being in speech,” I said, “would we also see its justice coming into being, and its injustice?" (369a). They are going to attempt to make their own city, one with a farmer, builder, weaver, and so on. It is here were we see Socrates Adeimantus where justice fits into the city. He replies that it will come when the people interact and start to relate to one another.…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The tyrant, who is also the most unjust man, is the least happy, but the aristocrat, the most just man, is the most happy, which shows that it pays to be just. In turn, Socrates comes up with his own definition of justice where, just like the ideal society, the just man has to balance the rational part of his soul, the spirited part of his soul, and the appetitive part of his soul. The problem, though, is that with this definition, the hoi polloi of America is…

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In his philosophy, Plato places a large emphasis on the importance of the idea of justice. This emphasis can be seen especially in his work ‘The Republic’ where, through his main character Socrates, he attempts to define the nature of justice and to justify this definition. One of the methods used by Socrates to strengthen or rather explain his argument on justice is through his famous city-soul analogy, where a comparison between a just city and a just soul/individual is made. Through this analogy, Socrates attempts to explain the nature of justice, how it is the virtue of the soul and is therefore intrinsically valuable to the individual, but it becomes apparent in the analysis and evaluation of the analogy that there may have been several purposes behind it. Inconsistencies within the analogy itself also raise questions to the validity in Plato’s definition and justification of justice.…

    • 1949 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Socrates meets with some of his friends and begins discussing the meaning of justice and whether the just life is better than the unjust life. First, they contemplate the meaning of justice. Cephalus stated that justice is as simple as telling the truth and returning what you receive, Polemarchus stated that justice is giving each his due, and Thrasymachus stated that justice is the advantage of the stronger. Socrates proves each of them wrong and embarks on a discussion to find out what true justice is, and to find out whether the just man is truly happier than the unjust man, or vice versa.…

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Why Is Socrates Unjust

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1. What is the difference between a. and a. Both Socrates and Glaucon ultimately agree that it is better to be actually just and seemingly unjust than it is to be actually unjust but seemingly just. Their reasons for holding this position are because people just have control over themselves. They are able to maintain dominion over their desires, to avoid self indulgence in evil desires, and to choose good things. This is something the unjust person loses no matter how just he may seem.…

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    For these two articles that we read in Crito and Apology by Plato, we could know Socrates is an enduring person with imagination, because he presents us with a mass of contradictions: Most eloquent men, yet he never wrote a word; ugliest yet most profoundly attractive; ignorant yet wise; wrongfully convicted, yet unwilling to avoid his unjust execution. Behind these conundrums is a contradiction less often explored: Socrates is at once the most Athenian, most local, citizenly, and patriotic of philosophers; and yet the most self-regarding of Athenians. Exploring that contradiction, between ¡§Socrates the loyal Athenian citizen¡¨ and ¡§Socrates the philosophical critic of Athenian society,¡¨ will help to position Plato¡¦s Socrates in an Athenian legal and historical context; it allows us to reunite Socrates the literary character and Athens the democratic city that tried and executed him. Moreover, those help us to understand Plato¡¦s presentation of the strange legal and ethical drama.…

    • 1653 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The first example was that to persuade someone into coming to the same opinion as yourself, you are actually teaching him or her. Persuasion can be considered a form of education, and with an education the people being convinced are therefore more educated as well. Educated masses or rather an educated public makes it easier to have justice since with those that have the intelligence have an easier comprehension of the injustice against them and can therefore have an easier time achieving the justice they rightfully deserve and can understand what they need to do in order to achieve this as well. Socrates also explained that you never need physical force in order to prove your point or your message. He explained that in order to change the opinions of others, you need a more gentle approach instead of brutishly forcing them to believe the side you’re pursuing. In Socrates' discussion of injustice, we find a number of familiar themes: that there are experts in ethical matters and that one should not take just anyone's opinion as though it were of equal value, and that no one ever knowingly or willingly does wrong. However, at the same time, his equation of doing injury with injustice is again…

    • 1978 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Socrates was a man of distinction and a man with strong ideas on how to make a more perfect society. Although a lot of his ideas conflict with his ability to be just or unjust it does not in his mind. Being just or unjust is a major topic in the book and there are many different ways of being both. Socrates used the terms, not necessarily the way we would normally use the term today, but parts of his depiction made sense. He said a lot of different things could be considered unjust. For example not doing what you were Destined to do or what you are best at is considered unjust in his mind.…

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He must do this regardless of the opinion of the majority or possible consequences for himself; he must act only in accordance to the opinion of the few wise, knowledgeable men who understand what is justice, and the laws of the State. Unfortunately, in all of the dialogues the author of this essay has read5, Socrates never clearly explains what ‘the laws’ really are — they remain a sort of abstraction, a divine essence of justice. However, this does not invalidate our definition of a champion of…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Socrates’ eyes one has as a mature citizen a contract with the state where one lives. This contract…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Socrates Unjust

    • 551 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This establishes that whether or not Socrates originally believes his punishment is right, by staying in Athens his entire life, he made a commitment to follow the law-being just-therefore, if he is accused of breaking the law and is convicted by the courts of Athens, which represent the law, then he must complete his sentence, or else he is only becoming more unjust. Socrates later decides that although he could escape, it is better to try and do the right thing, despite having done unjust things in the past, and ultimately decides to carry out his punishment. This passage also further examines the gray area within the idea of just and unjust by saying that following the laws is just; however, the people of the court who determine which acts are within the bounds the laws and which acts are not, are also biased according to their own personal perceptions, meaning no human truly knows the intransigent definitions of what is just and what is unjust.…

    • 551 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Socrates Argument

    • 1294 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In this paper I will explain Socrates’ agreement at 50 a-b of the Crito, and explain my reason why would not cause his fellow citizens harm by breaking the law. Specially I will show that people can actually create a positive. I will explain that Socrates argument and show how depends on how what the unjust causes. Then I will argue that this assumption is to be questioned under the fact that citizens are not necessarily affected by the law breakers, and that by doing something unjust can be moral.…

    • 1294 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Plato's Republic, a complete city is created by Socrates and Adeimantus, and later expanded by Socrates and Glaucon. The purpose of this city is to distinguish between justice and injustice, by implementing four virtues (368e). These virtues are wisdom, courage, moderation and justice (372e) . Socrates and Adeimantus mutually agree that citizens cannot become just and live without the help of other citizens. The act of being just in a city involves the giving and getting to everyone in the city, and he explains this by saying that "each of us isn't self-sufficient but is in need of much (369b-369c)." Moreover, each citizen has a role in the society in which they have to fulfill. Socrates defends this statement by explaining that "different…

    • 1197 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Socrates believes a just man is a man who knows the difference between what is right and wrong and will act upon it, but also believes that a just man is not skilled or educated in any of the other right areas. "Socrates: 'But is the just man or the skillful player a more useful and better partner at a game of draughts?' Polemarchus: 'The skillful player.' Socrates: 'And in the laying of bricks and stones is the just man a more useful or better partner than the builder?' Polemarchus: 'Quite the reverse'" (Republic Part III). Socrates also goes on to say, "And so of all the other things; -justice is useful when they are useless, and useless when they are useful?" (Republic Part III) Socrates believes here that a just man is nearly useless due to the overbearing skills others possess that he doesn't. "Then justice is not good for much." (Republic Part III) Socrates distinctly doesn't believe that being just is the way to go. He sees justice as a very good quality to have, but points out that it is pushed aside and passed up by those with skills in every other area.…

    • 1140 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays