The Idea Of Justice In Plato's The Republic
In The Republic by Plato, it revolves around the unknown concept of justice and throughout the book, attempts to illustrate what is justice with the soul-state analogy. This analogy presents Plato’s definition on justice by method of debate through a conversation between individuals to eliminate inconclusive premises, known as the Socratic method. Therefore, by assessing components of this analogy: myth of metals, tripartite of the human soul and different city-character pairs, it allows one to understand justice as a virtue for everyone, as an end to a means. The soul-state analogy is introduced in book two, however is developed in stages throughout the entire book. This analogy is created in reaction to Glaucon and Socrates’ debates on justice,
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Socrates concentrates on the individual’s soul, not body (591b). The soul is made up of three parts: appetite, reason and spirit (437c). The appetite part of the soul pertains to fulfilling pleasures and desires such as sex and luxuries, however, the reason may intervene on stopping these wants, as its function is to calculate what is best for the soul (439a-e). Thus lastly, the spirit pertains to feelings in anger, especially when reason fails to control it (441a-d). Socrates explains that the reason in the soul should dominate, in addition the spirit to follow and work in conjunction with reason and lastly the appetite to be checked by reason and spirit (441e-442c). This example can be exemplified to show an unhealthy soul of being ruled by appetite rather than reason and spirit. For example of the poet, Socrates explains that poetry is bad for the soul as it allows individuals to become too emotional and therefore, affects their reasoning calculations to function in the most just way possible (602a-e).
All in all, with justice identified in the city and soul, it allows one to understand how these two parallel each other in order understand Socrates’ idea of justice. Justice is harmony between the three parts of the soul, same as in relation to the classes of the city: each part doing its distinct function equally. The state and the soul relate as gold class corresponds with the reason, silver with spirit and bronze with appetite. Therefore, to contribute to a greater understanding of his justice, we must examine with examples of unjust cities and individual
Socrates concentrates on the individual’s soul, not body (591b). The soul is made up of three parts: appetite, reason and spirit (437c). The appetite part of the soul pertains to fulfilling pleasures and desires such as sex and luxuries, however, the reason may intervene on stopping these wants, as its function is to calculate what is best for the soul (439a-e). Thus lastly, the spirit pertains to feelings in anger, especially when reason fails to control it (441a-d). Socrates explains that the reason in the soul should dominate, in addition the spirit to follow and work in conjunction with reason and lastly the appetite to be checked by reason and spirit (441e-442c). This example can be exemplified to show an unhealthy soul of being ruled by appetite rather than reason and spirit. For example of the poet, Socrates explains that poetry is bad for the soul as it allows individuals to become too emotional and therefore, affects their reasoning calculations to function in the most just way possible (602a-e).
All in all, with justice identified in the city and soul, it allows one to understand how these two parallel each other in order understand Socrates’ idea of justice. Justice is harmony between the three parts of the soul, same as in relation to the classes of the city: each part doing its distinct function equally. The state and the soul relate as gold class corresponds with the reason, silver with spirit and bronze with appetite. Therefore, to contribute to a greater understanding of his justice, we must examine with examples of unjust cities and individual