In Plato’s Republic 1, Socrates attempts to define what justice is and why pursuing justice is good not only because what having the reputation of being just leads to, but also in by itself. This distinction between seeming to be just, and being just is characterized by the question, “if one removes all the consequences of being unjust, doesn’t a just person act same as a unjust person?”.

First, it is said that justice is to give what one is owed. But, such a definition is ambiguous and open to interpretation. Furthermore, knowledge is a prerequisite here, as in order to know what one is owed, knowledge is required.

So, in order to define justice more precisely, Socrates proposes to first look not at justice in an individual, but by hypothetically constructing justice in a just city and later claims an individual to be similar to a city and thus the definition of justice in a city translates to that of an individual.

Socrates‘s just city

A city comes into, because none of us are self sufficient. And, the fundamental idea of Socrates‘s just city lies in the idea that it’s citizens should pursue one and only one role. The argument to this is that a person does a better job if the person practices one job. The doer has to pay close attention to the work rather than treating it as a secondary occupation. The job to be done won’t wait for the doer‘s leisure. One man one job is the key principal for a just city. A jack of all trades is a master of none.

Socrates’s city consists of citizens belonging to mainly three classes, the worker class (bronze), the warrior class (silver) and the ruler class (gold). A person can only be good at one role if the role is pursued as the only role and not having multiple roles, thus the purpose of each class must be to perform it’s own function and nothing else. Children of citizens of one class belong to the same class unless in exceptional cases. The elite (gold and silver) class, which is a small proportion of the society, are not allowed to own private property, must live together in open spaces, get paid a wage just to get by, are not allowed to touch currency and must abolish family pursuits.

Education of the philosopher king

To prevent the guardian class from dominating inside Socrates’s city and to make them love their own, they should be educated properly, first in arts, including poetry, literature, music, etc, because it softens the heart of the guardians and makes them harmonious and then in physical training.

Socrates criticizes the education of the arts during that time, and accuses it of having wrong ideals. He proposes to censor and control the arts (education through storytelling) and instead educate his guardian class in his own way of philosophy. This translates to the control of oneself by controlling of one’s desires and passions.

In order to ensure social order and not having mobility of social status of people of the 3 main classes, Socrates proposes to use myths and justifies them by calling them the noble lies to mis-educate the majority of the society.

What is justice?

Remember the idea of each class performing it’s own function and nothing else, since that is what leads to having the job done well? That, Socrates claims, is justice. Each part of the society, like each part of an individual’s soul, having and doing what is a it’s own and belongs to it, not externally (as for the city) but what is within, is justice.

“A man may neither take what is another’s (including job), not be deprived of what is his own.”

  • The citizens of the bronze/working class, who have the function to produce the necessities of life but also benefit the most, correspond to the bronze part of the individual’s soul, the part that has desires and appetites. Both require moderation and control in order to be virtuous.
  • The citizens of the silver/warrior class, who have the function to protect and defend the city, correspond to the silver part of the individual’s soul, spiritedness or passion or courage.
  • The citizens of the gold/ruling class, who are the wise and virtuous philosopher kings who understand true political knowledge, correspond to the gold part of the individual’s soul, the reasoning, which comes from the right knowledge or wisdom.

Justice is the combination and harmonious interaction of the moderate, the courageous and the wise. Justice is to the soul as health is to the body. And just as the philosopher king should be in control of the city, the reason should be in control of appetites and spiritedness.

“One who is just doesn’t allow any part of himself to do the work of another part or allow the various classes within him to meddle with each other. He regulates well what is his own and rules himself. He puts himself in order, in his own friend, and harmonizes the three parts of himself like three limiting notes in a musical scale — high, low and middle. He binds together those parts and any other that may be in between, and from having been many things he becomes entirely one, moderate and harmonious. Only then does he act. And when he does anything, whether acquiring wealth, taking care of his body, engaging in politics, or in private contracts — in all of these, he believes that the action is just and fine that preserves this inner harmony and helps achieve it, and calls it so, and regards as wisdom the knowledge that oversees such actions. And he believes that the action that destroys this harmony is unjust, and calls it so, and regards the belief that oversees it as ignorance.” 443 d,e

References

  1. The Republic, Plato ↩