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Through the use of Socratic dialogue, Plato has an advantage at obtaining
answers by refuting other philosophers. Plato is able to achieve an answer to
the question, what is justice. He derives this answer through an analogy of the
ideal city. The ideal city parallels the concept of the ideal person as Plato
uncovers with the aid of dialectic. Plato defines justice as a function of
harmony, which must first be achieved in an individual before being extended to
the city. Speaking through Socrates Plato defines justice as a philosophical
understanding of excellence in the organization of society and human soul. In
book IV Socrates refutes the notion that justice is visible, while using the
Socratic method of dialogue. He questions that justice is the virtue that has no
physical representative. Through the state, Socrates inferred that justice can
be understood as opposed to being seen. In order to grasp the concept of the
ideal city or the happy state one must first analyze its components. Plato does
this with dialectic. Then he questions that each individual is a member of one
of three groups: Rulers, Guardians, and the Producer class. Each one of the
specifications of labor 2 within the kallipolis accompany a chief
characteristic.
The rulers were considered to have wisdom as their virtue.
People chosen to be a ruler exhibited a special knowledge for leading the state.
In the kallipolis rulers make their judgment for the happiness of the state as
opposed to their own individual happiness. Is there some knowledge possessed by
some of the citizens in the city?that does not judge about any particular matter
but the city as a whole and the maintenance of good relations both internally
and with other cities?(pg.104,428d) The next virtue, Plato discovers through the
Socratic method, was courage. This power to preserve through everything correct
and law-inculcated belief about what is to be feared and what isn't is what I
call courage.(105,430b) This virtue resided mainly in the guardians. Each
soldier was trained from their childhood about what to fear and what not to
fear. Courage was apparent in the soldier? beliefs in the state laws as well as
doing whatever was necessary to protect the state. Through the Socratic method,
Plato makes an analogy of the soldiers to poorly dyed wool, stating that a
soldier will never present a ridiculous and washed out appearance. The next
virtue, moderation, Plato discovered through the Socratic method was needed in
every member of the kallipolis, but he divulged that it was the attribute of the
3 producer class. Unlike courage and wisdom... Making the city brave and wise
respectively, moderation spreads throughout the whole.(pg.107,431e) Moderation
was necessary for each class, especially this one since the craftsmen are
considered the appetites of kallipolis. Through dialogue with Glaucon, Plato
concludes that producers were moderate; guardians were moderate and courageous;
and the rulers were moderate, courageous, and wise. After Socrates has found the
other three virtues in the kallipolis, he then moves on to justice.
Socrates
felt that justice was the virtue that was left over. Justice was an
understanding in the kallipolis of each individual performing their job without
interfering with that of another. Socrates placed the other three virtues first
and as a result he arrived with the conclusion that justice or morality is
achieved through a harmony of the others. Therefore Socrates defined justice as
a function of wisdom, courage, and moderation all working together to produce
the best for the state. Justice was considered as the harmony of the city as
well as an individual. Socrates felt that through examining the state and its
parts he could discover justice in the individual. Each individual was as the
state, with three different parts: 4 mind, body, and spirit. The mind acted in
each individual as a ruler. The virtue of the mind was wisdom just as the ruler
of the state. Courage is also found in the soul of the individual in the form of
the spirit. The spirit acts as the guardian of the soul just as the soldier does
for the city. And isn't in the individual courageous in the same way and in the
same part of himself as the city?(pg.117,441d) Moderation is throughout the soul
but mainly focused in the body. The body is parallel to the producer class of
the city. Socrates determined that an individual is just if the other three
parts of the soul are doing one's own work. Compared to the city an individual
achieved harmony and morality just the same. And surely we have not forgotten
that the city was just because each of the three classes in it was doing its own
work.(117,441e) Socrates felt that through looking at the larger scope first, he
could then infer more about the smaller scope. I believe in Plato? use of
Socratic method to obtain a philosophy of the state and the human soul. The two
concepts parallel each other as well as they are inseparable. The individual and
the state are dependent upon one another. How can a state be just without
individuals who are just? I believe Socrates answer to justice is manifested in
individual morality as well as 5 communal justice. Socrates?state is centered
upon a communal attitude in both the individual himself and the internal parts
of the city. Plato felt that to attain justice was to attain harmony in the
state as well as the individual.
Through conversing with Thrasymachus in a
dialectic method, Plato philosophizes that both the state and the individual
consisted of three separate parts, which must harmoniously commune with one
another to achieve the virtue of justice. Justice is the virtue found within the
other three virtues: wisdom, courage, and moderation. Each of these virtues
exists in the state as well as in the individual in the form of the mind, body,
and soul. Within the state the ruler is wise and rules for the happiness of the
state. This is paralleled in the individual through the mind. The individual?
courage is contained in the spirit, whereas, the state? courage comes from the
guardians. Only through the use of dialectic could Plato have come to the
conclusion that moderation is the virtue that is consistent in each part of the
individual and the state. And when the citizens agree in this way, in which of
them do you say moderation is located? In the ruler of the ruled? I suppose in
both.(107,431e) This is exemplary of the advantages that dialectic gives to a
philosopher. Here Plato 6 is able to make a statement about moderation through
the dialectic used with Glaucon. Through Socrates, Plato derives that moderation
is the attribute of the producer class in the state as well as the body of the
individual. Plato felt everyone within the state had to give there loyalty to
the state. Plato defines this as everyone doing their own work for the happiness
of the state, while not interfering with the work of another. Through the use of
dialectic Plato was able to define justice. Plato does this with an analogy of
the ideal city. The advantage of Socratic dialogue is that through continuous
interrogation one can shape the size of the question until the question that is
asked becomes the answer that the philosopher has been searching for. Dialectic
is the thesis then formed into an antithesis to conclude with a synthesis of
ideas. Plato is able to exemplify this method of philosophy while defining
justice with an analogy of the ideal city as well as the ideal person.
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