The Republic by Plato

One of the books of Plato talks about JUSTICE. The Republic of Plato is all about the Defense
of Justice. In response to Tharymachus, Glaucon and Adeimantus, Socrates seeks to show that it
is always in and individuals interest to be just, rather than unjust. Thus one of the most pressing
issues regarding the Republic is whether Socrates defends justice successfully or not.

What is justice? in this world many people look out only for themselves, justice can be
considered the happiness of one-selves. But because selfish men do not always decide our
standards in society, to find the definition society should look at the opinions of many. Just as the
modern society today which we live, where everyone feels justice has a different meaning, the
society of Plato struggled with this the same problem. One of the books of Plato that resides
heavily of defining and answer to the meaning of justice.

The times of Socrates and his fellow citizens spent looking for the definition, they came across
many different examples. Athenians such as Polemarchus bring out their own definition of what
justice is, with examples like justice “ doing is the right thing, or “ Giving everyone his due.” But
soon after these definition on justice were given, they were shot down by the quick wits of
Socrates. It seems the Plato could find flaws without spending much time actually examining the
definitions. Friends and men of Athens had to restate and restructure their definition time in and
time out during the search for the meaning of justice.

Without the skill that Plato possess in examining faults in definition, one can quickly assume that
a faulty definition work to be true. For example, the definition Polemarchus gives in section 2 of
book one, saying that justice is giving everyone what is “Appropriate” to him. For me an
examples like this would fit as definition, because without much examination it works well for
most situation. Example if a man is good then appropriate return for his goodness is to be good
back to him. But if a man acts in a bad or troublesome way, an equally bad punishment is needed
to counter his action. But Socrates of course easily found a flaw, finding this definition useless if
followed, because of there not being person best at benefiting friends and harming of enemies
So the argument of what over justice is goes on for something throughout the Republic, only lead
to more unsolved definition. Later they talk about justice on a more wide scale basis, rather that a
personal basis. Stating that what is best for the community may in fact be what is best for the
individual.

In the end, Socrates gentleman seem to arrive after much time with no agreement on a definition,
a pattern seen in much of his work. But this still leaves the reader with many unanswered
question, the main one, what is the meaning of justice ? so the way it take there is not an
agreeable set definition. This undefined meaning of justice is still prevalent in the society of
today, looking at the different ways “ Justice ” is brought and use throughout society.
Throughout my life I have seen and heard through news and media, many different example of
justice in our society, but for the most part they are not similar or set in all ways. Criminals that
commit the same exact crime might be issued differing sentences, depending on factor such as
gender, age or even status in society.

Example of this sort of injustice are seen almost daily, considering the crime filled world to
which we live. An example of this could be rape or molestation. A man and woman that both
commit this crime would probably receive different sentences, in most cases, the man would get
more time. But is this fair, are we being just in issuing unjust sentences like these? Status
examples are also widely seen, cases where a famous or well known person might get off easy
because of who he or she is. To me , this seems a very unjust act because all people should be
considered all the same when being tried .
After Critizicing the conventional Theories of justice presented differently by cephalus,
Polymarchus, Thasymachus and Glaucon, Plato gives us his own theory of Justice is a “ human
virtue” that makes a person self – consistent that makes a society internally harmonious and
good. Because According to Plato, Justice is a sort of specialization. The major points of the
book is that how they prove that justice is for every one.

As for my opinion I can’t quite put a label on justice. I might see a court case verdict, and say to
myself “ Justice has been serve” , but I say this not because I know exactly what justice is, but
because I feel the right choice was made. I think that my outlook on justice might be the same
that our society accepts. Justice is making the right choice. The problem with this is that the
person making the choice is not always the best one to make the right choice. But because the
person deciding justice has given power in a situation, let’s hope and assume that they were put
there for a reason. Because they are just person who make that choices. The Republic find no set
definition of justice, only basic thought and opinion.

Justice will have to be solved in the future. For now we just hope that the people put in charge of
justice in our country were put there for a reason and hopefully we’ll do their jobs right.