Plato makes a passionate presentation for the rightness of justice in ‘The Republic’; it is imperative that the place of justice be fully understood because it is the cornerstone upon which the ideal city-state is built. Justice is the principle that differentiates Plato’s ideal community from the current status quo.
Plato sets out with two primary objectives: one is to understand the nature of justice, and the second is to find out in what ways justice can be ensured within a community.
Plato starts by first finding out the perception that there is of justice from Socrates’ discourse with his fellow sophists. The first response Socrates gets from Polemarchus, is that justice constitutes being honest and paying off what one owes.
However, the philosopher points out the loopholes in this premise, from whence the definition of justice broadens, with the proposition that justice is giving a man what he deserves. Again, Socrates blows this argument by pointing out that a just man cannot do an unjust man wrong, just because the unjust one deserves it (Plato 7-13).
The argument proceeds, with Thrasymachus declaring that justice is that which serves the purpose of the stronger party, even if it is the government, because, if one is presumed to have broken the law, then there is no defense against authorities, whether the perceived lawbreaker is unjust or not (Plato 14). The conclusion is just men are wiser and better, and that unjust men only act so out of their ignorance (Plato 32).
At this point, Socrates states the first quality of a just leader; that such a person is one who has special knowledge coupled with the understanding that this knowledge is not intended to take advantage of those whom are under his rule, but rather he is to be of service. The mark of a true leader is having the interest of his subjects always at heart (Plato 22).
Gradually, Socrates view of justice begins to take form, after pulling down the conformities on morality and justice that are known in their own societal setting. Socrates explains that the position held by people on morality is more out of a moral code than a true appreciation of justice. It is because people are trying to avoid the ramifications of injustice if one is at the receiving end that they keep to the moral codes that bind their neighbors too (Plato 37).
Socrates has identified that morality and justice, as it is perceived, is something of a compromise that means one will not necessarily do good, but rather will restrain from doing evil (Plato 38).
After exhaustive debate, Socrates and his fellow sophists conclude that justice entails two things: doing one’s task for which one is best suited without interfering with the tasks of others, and keeping one’s property as well as one’s occupation (167).
How this conclusion is drawn is that justice has three aspects: courage, wisdom, and temperate, and just society is one in which all three are in harmony. Socrates proposes that each person has a duty, which he/she can perform better than other tasks. There are those who are meant to be carpenters, and it is for the good of all if they focus their energies on being carpenters. When they try to be something other than their craftsmanship, they interfere with the balance of the community and create injustice.
In a just community, as Plato envisions for the ideal city-state, there is total harmony because every individual is playing his role. In this kind of setting, people find fulfillment, not only for themselves because they are undertaking that which is most suitable to their nature, but also because it sums up to a community in accord. (Plato 47-52)
There are three classes in which people in a just society fall: the warriors, the guardians, and the producers. The warriors are charged with the task of protecting the community, the producers, who constitute the craftsmen, farmers and artisans provide the community with its basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing. The guardians are charged with the task of ruling the community. When all three people in the different classes do their tasks as they are meant to, then justice is created (Plato 53).
Plato states that there is outward justice, that which is seen within the community, and inner justice, that which comes from the individual. He further expounds that a just society is merely a reflection of the individual who is in himself just. He explains that a just individual is one who is supremely balanced, who lets one of his three parts of his reason take control.
Central to how just a community is, as Socrates mentions from the very start, depends very much on leaders. Socrates makes a point for why leaders are to be chosen from the one whose dominant mental part is the quest for truth and wisdom.
He says that the wise make the smallest proportion of the community’s population, because of the specialized education that they have, and that is more important than the knowledge contained by the rest. This, however, does not mean that apart from the leaders the rest of the community has no sense of reason. Reason can only be governed by reason; it is just that the other members of the community fit their designed tasks (Plato 96-100).
The selection of leaders has to be done with great care; first and foremost, this leaders, whose temperament leads them always to seek wisdom, must be given a special and wholesome education that in part contains music and gymnastics. The leaders must also be older men, who have learned much over the years and can be entrusted to safeguard the city.
These leaders, above all else, must put the interests of the city first, and treat these interests like their very own. This is the true hallmark of a just leader; one who genuinely thinks of his subjects before himself. Furthermore, a leader has to be tested for his steadfastness before he can be deemed worthy of his position (105).
Plato then surmises that justice is good in and of itself, that true justice is an inner state which is little affected by what can be outwardly observed.
Conclusion
Systematically, Socrates illustrates that a just society is much better than an unjust one. He starts by stating the downsides of living in an unjust community: distrust, lack of harmony, dissonance, violence, constraint and mayhem.
Then he illustrates how a just society can be achieved, outlining exactly what it means to live justly. Socrates points out that there is a three-piece approach to creating a just community as he envisions for his ideal city-state, that of embracing the three aspects of justice; courage, temperament, and wisdom. Why justice is essential to a community is because it nurtures harmony and
Works Cited
Plato. Republic. Trans.C.D.C Reeves Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2004. Print.