Socrates Theory Of Justice Analysis

In the midst of one of the most controversial and unpredictable election races in American Political history, it can be useful to attempt to remove oneself from analysis of main-stream media points of interest and instead evaluate the candidates’ adherence to the most basic political philosophies. While nature of the law and international policies can be valuable tools to examine one’s political beliefs, one of the quintessential ideas of political theory is the idea of justice. While justice is explored by many theorists, and ignored by those such as Machiavelli who view it secondary to more pressing concerns of governance, the earliest and most detailed description of justice comes from Plato in his Republic. Plato argues that justice is …show more content…
In his own words, Socrates describes the root of justice as the harmony of the parts. Socrates means this to apply to two different levels of justice, justice in the individual and justice in the city. Justice in the individual is maintaining the appropriate balance between the different parts of the soul (Plato, 439 d-e, 119-120). Socrates’s parts of the soul, the appetitive or desire filled part of the soul, the rational part of the soul, and the spirited mediator between the two, are similar to Sigmund Freud’s concept of the Id, Ego, and Superego in the mind (Plato, 439b-441c, 114-117). Socrates suggests that given only the appetitive part of the soul, people would act solely based upon their desires and what most benefited them, which would be unjust. Additionally, if a person were to act solely on the rational part of their soul, they would not make any decision that were immoral regardless of what decision is just. An example he gives of a just action that may be viewed as immoral would be when he suggests that the leaders should be able to lie to the citizens for the good of …show more content…
The harmony in this part of Socrates’s view of justice is all of the individuals in different facets of society working effectively with one another so that the city can operate most effectively. His argument suggests that it would be unjust for individuals to act out against the system because this would interfere with the most effective functionality of the city. This suggestion, if extrapolated, can be used to explain the reason for the unjust nature of crimes such as treason, robbery, and murder. Treason would be unjust due to its negative affects against the city as a whole, robbery would interfere with the balance of wealth among the trading peoples in the city, and murder would be unjust as it would alter the number of people contributing to society. Additionally, Socrates argues that it would be unjust for someone to do something other than what they are best suited for (Plato, 423d, 98-99). In his particular example of the guardians, one who is fit to lead should be expected to lead and one who is not fit to lead should not attempt to lead or have desire to lead. While this may seem to be a logical way to ensure the city functions to its highest potential, it falls in direct opposition to one of the most important values of American society, the ideal of the American Dream. The American Dream, asserting