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2007-03-08 10:33:40 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities Philosophy

4 answers

If you read the Republic 2, you get this conversation that socrates was having with Adiemantus:

For the extreme of injustice is to seem to be just when one is not. So the perfectly unjust man must be given the most perfect injustice, and nothing must be taken away; he must be allowed to do the greatest injustices while having provided himself with the greatest reputation for justice. And if, he should trip up in anything, he has the power to set himself aright; if any of his unjust deeds should come to light, he is capable both of speaking persuasively and of using force, to the extent that force is needed, since he is courageous and strong and since he has provided for friends and money. (361a-b)(1)

Basically, what Socrates is saying (So-CRATES for you Bill and Ted fans) is that to be just takes time, morality, and perserverance. However, to be unjust takes shrewdness, deceptiveness, and manipulation.

While it is not easy to be just, it is just as difficult to be unjust. Instead of using just and unjust, use the words good and evil. Good is the opposite of Evil, but both are needed for perfect harmony.

It is difficult in our everyday life to be a good person, but the guilt, anxiety, and depression that bares down upon the unjust, allows for an almost admirable quality as well.

That's why people are famous, and infamous...they mean basically the same, but one has a better connotation than the other.

Hope that helps.

2007-03-08 10:46:27 · answer #1 · answered by funtasticfool 2 · 0 1

Socrates Definition

2016-10-30 07:10:28 · answer #2 · answered by javoronkov 4 · 0 0

You may have unwittingly stirred up a hornet's nest.

In the first place, we don't necessarily know what Socrates thought about much of anything... much of the work we see him in was written by Plato, and there are many people who think Plato was putting his own ideas (modestly) into Socrates' mouth.

Even if we just assume that it's all Socrates' work anyway, most of the book 'The Republic' is spent talking about it. So it can be difficult to summarize an entire book so shortly.

Fortunately for all of us, there are lots of people who want the ultra-short summary, so it's been done lots of times before. Basically, Socrates puts forward in that book an idea of justice which can probably be boiled down to just one word:

Harmony.

To Socrates, justice isn't just something external that is used in societies, but is an internal - or even natural - condition that can be found almost anywhere.

In his perfect society, the rulers rule, the warriors fight, and the merchants merch, and none of them try to do what the others are supposed to. Thus each is supreme in their own areas which is exactly just because each of them is the BEST in their own areas.

He compares this at one point to a human body, where the brain rules and so on... if things get out of whack, a person is sick. Likewise, if a society is unjust, it is sick too. If everything did what it was supposed to and only what it was supposed to, there would be no sickness at all: no crime, no misfortune, and therefore perfect justice.

Link below for a similar analysis at greater length.

2007-03-08 11:11:58 · answer #3 · answered by Doctor Why 7 · 3 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
how does socrates define justice and injustice?

2015-08-13 17:04:44 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Socrates, via Plato's Republic, is quoted as saying that justice is goodness, but that the true concept of justice can only be determined through deep thought, consideration, and discussion.

One then can contemplate what a perfect society would involve, and through contemplation, one would come to realize Plato's idea of a Republic.

Plato uses this discussion to lead into his argument that only the best and brightest should rule, and that they should be identified young and trained to rule, and that from among those the dictator, philosopher king, should be chosen.

2007-03-08 10:45:01 · answer #5 · answered by Monc 6 · 0 0

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