Justice and the Self

Much of Book II in The Republic is spent addressing the topic of justice on the personal level. Often times, the word is colloquially defined by examples; we saw this occur much in the same way on the subject of virtue in Meno. While this method is not a formally acceptable way of defining virtue, justice, or any other idea, for that matter, that does not mean that the examples bear no meaning in the discussion of the topic. When Glaucon asks Socrates to prove to him that justice is not only practical due to its consequences, but also for its own sake, Socrates turns to yet another analogy: the city. During class, we began to debate whether or not this is an acceptable analogy. After all, a city is built of many parts, and whether or not that can be said of the soul is going to require much attention. However, without reaching that argument just yet, we must postpone it for two reasons.

First, Socrates has already told us that only after his examination of the city's justice will he endeavor to show that this justice and personal justice are analogous. To be able to compare the two, we must first have a clear view of both the city and the individual. While both are complex, the city can be constructed using layers of complexity that promote understanding. This is why Socrates turned to this example in the first place. As individuals, being able to connect the concepts presented in the city will be easier than to examine it from the other direction. Second, we must look at the aforementioned examples which come to mind when justice is mentioned; Helping the elderly, treating others with kindness and respect, and defending your family are a few examples among many. Nearly every example of justice, though, has one central theme: interaction among others. This is why every attempt at examining the nature of justice thus far has led to less than ideal conclusions. By attempting to remove this idea from the argument, they have faltered, and as Socrates begins to examine this subject from a new angle, we stumble across another integral component of justice: Religion.