Justice as Fairness

Glaucon in Republic II, is justice? Why and in what sense is it good to be just person, and bad to be an unjust person? According to the theory developed by Glaucon, justice is the case where people agreed to be good to each other, so that not to end up in a chaos. It is better to be just, for people will be in a better situation, rather than if they will choose injustice as a way to act. In Republic’s book two, Glaucon sets up a model to demonstrate what justice is. In his model, he…

Plato constructs a society in which the wise men, known as the philosophers, hold the highest position in the government. If he gave up this assumption that certain people are intrinsically unfit to occupy certain political social positions, he wouldn’t make this claim. He would instead create a society where everyone’s voice is heard no matter which social status they come from. A society that hears the voices of all the people and doesn’t underestimate their ideas. Also, he would allow the…

between natural talents and justice in his ideal form of society. “The Republic,” presents three facets of justice; justice is giving what is owed, justice is the advantage of the stronger, and justice is less profitable than injustice. Plato’s metaphysics explain that each person is gifted with their own natural talent and should use it to benefit society as a whole. Natural talents are to be used for the commonwealth, and this makes them just, as Plato advocates that justice is the helping of…

Plato’s forms were objective ideas of perfection of a concept. The forms are an essence of a concept, or a model for the individual, the ideal state. In the dialogue, the Phaedo Socrates is defending his theory of recollection through explaining notions of the forms. “For our argument applies not merely to the equal, but with the same force to the beautiful itself, the good itself, the just, the holy, in fact, as I have just said, to everything upon which we affix our seal and mark as being.” (p…

In Plato's Republic transcribed by Plato, Socrates argues with Thrasymachus on the matter, is being just good and wise? Socrates asks Thrasymachus a question that eventually makes Thrasymachus rethink his position. Socrates makes the argument that justice is wise and good and injustice is ignorance and bad; however, Thrasymachus thinks alternatively in a sense that he defends injustice as being better of the two. Through Socrates’ method of elenchus, Socrates comes to the conclusion “the just…

Republic, Book I, Socrates goes down to Piraeus (Plato 327a, p1). He is stopped by Polemarchus and begins the debate on what justice is with Cephalus (329a, p3). Cephalus explains his view of justice which Socrates shows is incorrect. Polemarchus, then, picks up where his father left off and looks to explain what justice is. However, unlike his father, Polemarchus explains justice as “friends owe something good to their friends, never something bad” (Plato, 332 a10, p6). Continuing with their…

According to the Oxford Dictionary, justice is being defined as a just behavior or a treatment. In the ancient Greek, justice has been perceived differently. Different philosophers have different arguments towards that topic of “ What is Justice?”. Plato elaborates on this topic in his book Republic to give his opinion about what justice is through different characters such as, Thrasymachus and Socrates. Thrasymachus is a sophist, who challenged the view of justice and moral values and gives a…

exhort all men to follow,"(Page 122). What he tried to convinced people of is to know the truth and the correct way of human life which is to live as well as they can. And also, Socrates suggested that in order to live well, people need to "practise justice and every virtue in life and death"(Page 122). This can also be proved by the sentence "that todo injustice is more to be avoided than to suffer injustice, and that the reality…

In book eight of The Republic, Socrates offers his thoughts on Democracy, and whether or not this form of government aids in fostering a successful state. He ultimately concludes that Democracy contains too many flaws, yet the qualities he admires compel him to stay faithful to Athens. Despite declaring Democracy as the “second worst” form of government, Socrates specifically liked its (Democracy) inherent qualities of diversity and freedom of speech. These two qualities are rare in the other…

Crito, a friend and follower of Socrates, arrives in his prison cell one day and tries to convince Socrates into escaping. Socrates counters Crito by giving a few arguments as to why he should not escape, yet his arguments could also be disputed in some ways which brings up the question of Socrates intents. For example, his first argument is that he should not escape as it would mean harming someone and you should never harm even if you are harmed first. This could be contradicted with an act of…