The Definition Of Justice In Plato's The Republic

1642 Words7 Pages
English ISP Script The Republic, which consists of ten volumes, is one of the most famous philosophical works, and one which gave Plato his high status in the intellectual community. The book was written in the perspective of Socrates, who engages in a discussion with his fellow philosophers to conclude how the ideal state is like. Although the entire book centers around this, the state is used as a vassal answer two major questions that are presented in the book; What is justice? & Should we be just? These two major themes are met with a single solution: a definition of justice that appeals to human psychology, rather than to perceived behavior. Therefore, the moral implications of this were put to question; why are men just? Do they fear societal punishment? Do they fear the divine? Or is it in human nature to behave justly? Plato then sets out to separate the definitions of political/societal justice between individual justice, and…show more content…
The people are free to choose their leaders, and in a democracy, the lower class grows bigger and bigger. The poor become the winners. This is the regime in which the theme of justice as an advantage of the majority is heavily enforced, since the people, who are in greater numbers than the ruling class of the previous regimes, rise up to take control of their government. The people are free to do what they want and live how they want. People can even break the law if they so choose. This appears to be very similar to anarchy. In this regime, the people are consumed with unnecessary desires. Plato describes necessary desires as desires that we have out of instinct or desires that we have in order to survive. Unnecessary desires are desires we can teach ourselves to resist such as the desire for riches. The people take great interest in all the things they can buy with money. They do whatever they want, whenever they want. This life has no order or

More about The Definition Of Justice In Plato's The Republic

Open Document