The Role Of Justice In Plato's The Republic

Plato’s The Republic brings the idea of what truly is justice. Is it what society see it to be, what one sees it to be, or is justice such an aloof ideal that man is still trying to comprehend what exactly justice is to one’s soul. On the terms of understanding justice one must also think if they need justice and if so what it means to them. The value they hold to justice is something such as an intrinsic good which Plato elaborates on in The Republic where the definition and need for justice is looked upon. The definitions of justice evaluated in the book can show how the value of changes depending on the definition from Cephalus’ to other members of the party to Plato’s definition. The intrinsic value that justice possibly holds for societies and for mankind and what it could mean without justice. It must also be examined if the need for justice as a good is worth the changes that it could in society. After these issues are assessed then it can be shown how Plato proves that justice is an intrinsic good for society, mankind, and the soul of man.
Before we can describe justice and show that Plato proves it is an intrinsic good, we have to understand what intrinsic is in this setting, and how it would apply to justice. For this setting, the meaning of intrinsic will be something that is essential and naturally belongs. Therefore in this setting, if justice is an intrinsic good then it would be said justice is necessary in all parts of …show more content…
The definition of justice which comes from Socrates is when one “doesn’t let each part in him mind other people’s business,” conveying the idea justice is the idea of one doing one’s job and staying to that job. With the definition of justice clarified by Socrates it can now be shown how he proves it to be an intrinsic good for not only society as a whole by for the individuals in this