According To Socrates What Are Both Just And Unjust?

1) According to Socrates, one who seeks to know what justice is, should be dissatisfied with what lovers of spectacles regard as justice because these spectacles (including theater, poetry, and sporting events) do not contain the truth. Socrates also believes that the many just things are both just and unjust because they “roll around somewhere between not-being and being purely and simple” (Pg 160 d) Of the just, there are things that look and are unjust, and things that seem just at the moment are unjust in the long run. Both of these concepts are based off of opinions, and no one can find what justice is in these things because there is no true pure form for justice. An example of this could be killing a murderer to prevent him from killing …show more content…
His level of expertise was that of the same level as the sailors aboard the ship. The sailors took notice of this and began to think to themselves that they could pilot the ship better, and they began arguing about who could do it best. No of them could prove their qualifications to serve a pilot, and most believed that it was an unteachable skill. Those who thought it could be taught were almost harmed for their beliefs. They would beg the captain for a chance to pilot the ship, and those who were given the chance were either killed or thrown off. Eventually the sailors got control of the ship by overpowering the pilot. They called the men who are “skilled at sailing, pilot, and the knower the of ship business, the man who is clever at figuring out how they will get the rule, either by persuading or forcing the ship owner, while the man who is not of this sort they blame as useless.”(Pg 168c-d) The one who actually knows what to do is seen as useless because those around him think that his knowledge is irrelevant and useless. This is just like our own democratic politics because everyone thinks they know what is in the best interest of society, when in actuality they do not. Take for example this past election, the majority of our country thought that either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton was the best possible choice for this country. They got so caught up in these two candidates that they threw all other candidates running to the side. Our society didn’t give them the chance to share what they know, and thought their choice of running was useless. Which is like what the sailors did to the one true ship pilot aboard the ship. The same goes for the story about the beast, the man who spends the most time around it feels as though he knows everything about it even though he knows nothing at all. A lot of the decisions made by political figures are based