Enlightenment Of The East And West: The Republic

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Hannah Price Professor Winstead Enlightenment of the East and West 1 October 2015 Title Justice is constantly examined and championed as a necessary pursuit of society. The concept and construct of justice is analyzed and considered in the governing of a nation. Numerous philosophers discuss a just society in attempts to discern the viability of a just society and just individuals. One of many philosophers who grappled with and argued the definition of justice was Plato. Plato’s literary work, The Republic, extensively analyzes the concept of justice and uses many multifaceted examples to conclude that one and one’s city will always be happier and operate smoother being just than unjust. Once justice is accepted as the means to achieve true…show more content…
Socrates makes this point by using an analogy of four men inspired by different types of governments: timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, and tyranny. Socrates highlights the tyrannical man because his soul is perfectly unjust due to his impulsive desires. Socrates describes such a man as one who is “mad and deranged undertakes and expects to be able to rule not only over human beings but gods, too… they steal, break into houses, cut purses, go off with people’s clothes… at all times they sycophants, if they are able to speak, and they bear false witness and take bribes” (223-225). Because the tyrannical man places his desires above his wisdom and his city, he often acts irrationally and hurts those closest to them. They will stop at nothing to fulfill their never-ending desires. A tyrannical man will do whatever it takes to quench his thirst for his desires. He no longer has any sense of wisdom or courage, but only is aware of his irrational appetite. This man is ruled by his desires and will do anything, including ruin any and all relationships he has in order to satiate those desires. When a man acts this way, he “[has] no experience of prudence and virtue but [is] always living with feasts and the like are, it seems, brought down and then back again to the middle and throughout life wander in this way… [he isn’t] filled with what really is, nor do[es he] taste of a pleasure that is sure and pure… [he is] not filling the part of [himself] that is, or can contain anything, with things that are” (268). The beast of desire steers the tyrannical man’s life in whichever desire it pleases. The satisfaction he is gaining as a result of fulfilling his desires is merely temporarily and occurs because it is a relief of pain. The tyrannical man’s soul is being ruled by his appetite, which has caused him to constantly live in fear of his

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