Justice In Plato's The Republic
Definiton of Justice
The Republic examines many different aspects of the human condition. Plato reveals his opinions of Socrates by showing how other humans function and interact with one another. Socrates looks very closely at morality and the most important values people choose to hold. One value Socrates and his colleagues spend a lot of time looking at is the principle of justice. Multiple definitions of justice are laid out while Socrates analyzes and questions the validity of them. As each definition begins to form it shows how self-interest shapes the progression of each characters’, Cephalus, Polemarchus and Thrasymachus, arguments and helps contributes to the definition of justice. The first definition of justice comes through …show more content…
Thrasymachus has two main points to his definition. He first claims that justice is the advantage of the stronger; hence rulers govern on for themselves. Nonetheless Socrates demonstrates that the rulers are at the mercy of their subjects and the decisions they make can be good or bad for the people, but it is the right of the people to decide whether or not to follow what the ruler lays out. Socrates says that ‘"no kind of knowledge that considers or commands the advantage of the stronger, but rather of what is weaker and ruled by it.”’ (Bloom 20). Thrasymachus is enraged by this comment, he states that injustice is more profitable than justice and defends this by claiming that people blame injustice for the fact that they fear it and do not want to suffer from it. This fear of injustice shows that it is more favorable than justice. Socrates refutes this by looking at what an unjust city is capable of achieving. He says that an unjust city cannot work together because the individuals are constantly at a war with each other and it takes a just man to work together and accomplish things. So injustice is never more profitable than injustice because a just person will get things done while an unjust person will rule and manage
The Republic examines many different aspects of the human condition. Plato reveals his opinions of Socrates by showing how other humans function and interact with one another. Socrates looks very closely at morality and the most important values people choose to hold. One value Socrates and his colleagues spend a lot of time looking at is the principle of justice. Multiple definitions of justice are laid out while Socrates analyzes and questions the validity of them. As each definition begins to form it shows how self-interest shapes the progression of each characters’, Cephalus, Polemarchus and Thrasymachus, arguments and helps contributes to the definition of justice. The first definition of justice comes through …show more content…
Thrasymachus has two main points to his definition. He first claims that justice is the advantage of the stronger; hence rulers govern on for themselves. Nonetheless Socrates demonstrates that the rulers are at the mercy of their subjects and the decisions they make can be good or bad for the people, but it is the right of the people to decide whether or not to follow what the ruler lays out. Socrates says that ‘"no kind of knowledge that considers or commands the advantage of the stronger, but rather of what is weaker and ruled by it.”’ (Bloom 20). Thrasymachus is enraged by this comment, he states that injustice is more profitable than justice and defends this by claiming that people blame injustice for the fact that they fear it and do not want to suffer from it. This fear of injustice shows that it is more favorable than justice. Socrates refutes this by looking at what an unjust city is capable of achieving. He says that an unjust city cannot work together because the individuals are constantly at a war with each other and it takes a just man to work together and accomplish things. So injustice is never more profitable than injustice because a just person will get things done while an unjust person will rule and manage