William Wayne Justice

One of the most well-known works of Plato is his «Republic» in which he describes the ideal state. This concept is very important for understanding Plato’s political philosophy. From the beginning this work was criticized by many scholars and there was and still is an argument whether Plato’s State can be called closed and consisted of authoritarian society without freedom or not. That is the question I will try to answer in my essay. Describing the ideal state, Plato divides the inhabitants…

from both philosopher's accounts? In Book II of the Republic, Glaucon offers a “social contract” explanation for the nature of justice What men want most is to commit injustices without consequence What men want least is to be subject to injustices without the ability to fight back Justice, as such, is the result of the contracts between men to avoid these extremes (justice as the middle ground). So, for the fear of becoming victims of injustice, and without the ability to be unjust with total…

The idea of justice and goodness is a central topic in philosophy, and extremely important in both Plato’s The Republic and St. Augustine’s Confessions. In these works, the philosophers are able to critically think about what is good and how goodness and justice affect the lives of individuals. Though these definitions may seem simple and universal, they are still able to be refuted against. Plato, who’s character in his work is the esteemed philosopher Socrates, spends a lot of time discussing…

John Rawls’ Two Principles of Justice In this essay, I argue against John Rawls’ principles of justice, as they cannot result in a fair and just society as intended and are difficult to implement. I begin by giving a general overview of Rawls and his two principles of justice. I then explain how a society governed by these principles would likely not result in a fair and just society, as many societies could not realistically function on this premise, as it is an idealistic, unrealistic…

Has one ever conjectured what the conception of perfection can lead to? Is excellence or improvement a negative feature that is responsible for the ills of the society? A philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau expressed his comprehension of perfection as a negative aspect is an ill in his essay named, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. Rousseau comes to show that excellence tended to create a society that promotes inequality. As the society progressed towards improvement it creates greater…

The Allegory of the Cave The Republic written in the 380 BC by the famous philosopher Plato is a Socratic dialogue that talks about key issues in our system including order, justice and character of just city-state and just man. The dialogue setting is thought to be during the Peloponnesian war. Plato’s work, Republic became extremely renowned and was used in both philosophical and political realms. There are ten books in Plato’s work Republic, but The Allegory of the Cave is the most famous…

In the book Justices: What is The Right Thing to Do? Michael Sandel continues to address alternative theories of justices from various scholars in the later chapters of the book. Since the ancient times, morality and law are interdependent and mutual influence to each other. Moral is a kind of social ideology, where behavior of norms comes from the social awareness, regulation, education, and evaluation. On the other hand, law is developed or recognized by the government, and it is a guarantee…

name of The Republic he is able to identify the basic nature of mankind. In which he uses the character Socrates as a voice of reason who questions theories of the men surrounding him. Most of these theories focused on what it the true meaning of justice and why men act justly. Plato argues that men act justly because they fear punishment or for the sake of being rewarded. Whereas, some may argue that people are naturally good and act justly for the sake of being just. Those who argue for the…

The fundamental objective of international law, to regulate the relations between sovereign states, has become a standard to evaluating the effectiveness of different approaches to international law. Various philosophical disciplines have interpreted the importance and usefulness of international law in order to establish a better understanding of how international law is to be executed. This paper will take a thorough look at how two different philosophers have explained the concepts and…

In his dialogue Crito, Plato discusses the idea of justice while writing about his former teacher and friend Socrates. Similar to his other works, Crito centers around Socrates, and his thoughts and philosophies. To truly understand what Plato was writing about in Crito is important to understand the reasons behind Socrates’ death sentence. Socrates was a man of thought, and much of the time there was both a lesson and a reason behind his actions. When Socrates first appeared on philosophical…