what relationship exists between the just individual and the just state? which one of these comes first? is one a necessary condition of the other?
2007-10-13 12:22:10 · 4 answers · asked by Coco 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
I was answering your question and my thoughts are all jumbled up today.......sorry. I have a cold and am not feeling well. Here is a website that will help explain things for you.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0031-8191%28197107%2946%3A177%3C238%3APAOSAI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage
Sorry.......I'm not up to writing out a big answer....I'm going to bed.
2007-10-13 12:31:45 · answer #1 · answered by artistagent116 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Interesting question. I suggest you better read The Republic. Anyway, let me share with you the dialogue of Socrates to Adeimanthus:
Imagine a rather short-sighted person told to read an inscription in small letters from some way off. He would think it a godsend if someone pointed out that the same inscription was written up elsewhere on a bigger scale, so that he could first read the larger characters and then make out whether the smaller ones were the same.
We think of justice as a quality that may exist in a whole community as well as in an individual, and the community is bigger than the two. Possibly, then, we may find justice there in larger proportions, easier to make out. So i suggest we should by inquiring what justice means in a state. Then we can go on to look for its counterpart on a smaller scale in an individual
Well then i continued, suppose we imagine a state coming into being before our eyes. We might then be able to watch the growth of justice or or injustice within. When that is done, we may hope it will be easier to find out what we are looking for.
A state comes into existence because no individual is self-sufficing, we all have many needs.
We call in one another's help to satisfy our various requirements; and when we have collected a number of helpers and associates to live together in one place, we call the settlement a state. ...........
Therefore, the relationship between the just individual and the just state is interdependent. A state cannot exist without its individuals. They must co-exist with each other and ergo a necessary condition of the other. The individual comes first and the State then comes into existence because as said no individual is self-sufficing.
Thanks for asking. Have a great day!
2007-10-13 12:51:00 · answer #2 · answered by Third P 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I agree that the two are interdependent BUT isn't there a paradox in Plato's argument? You need right rulers to create/educate just individuals AND you need just individuals to create just rulers...his reasoning comes in full circle...
So how can you truly conclude that the individual comes first, followed by the State??
2007-10-16 12:40:55 · answer #3 · answered by JellyBean 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
soo...pol200?
2007-10-14 09:55:53 · answer #4 · answered by eddies200 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋