Plato's The Republic: The Definition Of Justice

“Chicago cop cleared in unarmed woman’s shooting death”. Headlines just like this are becoming common in today’s society and the main question that the community asks is “when will justice be served?” Living in a time where the black community keeps getting shot by the police and no consequences occur, we have no choice but to question, what is justice? Similar to the modern society, the one Plato lived in confronted this same question of justice. In this paper I will attempt to explain the view that Plato places before us through Socrates in The Republic as to what is justice and does it “pay” better than injustice in society. Though Plato and I are of two different communities, I still believe that I can agree with the definition of justice that he presents. In The Republic by Plato, tells of a time that Socrates and his community were searching for a clear consensus or definition of justice. Many individuals gave their examples and ideas to the question, but Socrates shot those down because he could sense flaws in each of them. Even though Socrates does not give his own definition of what justice truly is, he does make …show more content…
He seems to understand that what makes moral sense to others is going to be the more desirable option that the community is going to follow and what the majority deems as “just” is the direction that community is going to agree with overall over something deemed “wrong” or ultimately unjust. Socrates also states that justice trumps injustice because he believes that it is a human virtue, which is the foundation and dispositions to perform good acts. Justice and the well-being of a community is achieved when those individuals of a society are living to fulfill their humanly virtues. As stated before, the majority will take more interest in an issue that is morally just over something that is