Platos Republic Essay - 4438 Words

In reading the Republic, there is no reason to search for arguments which show that Platonic justice (inner justice or psychic harmony) entails ordinary justice. The relationship between inner justice and ordinary justice is of no importance in Platos Republic. We note that Plato tries to argue from the very first book that the true source of normativity lies in knowledge attained by philosophical reason. What is crucial, then, is the relationship between inner justice and acts which brings about a just polis. I. The Unimportance of Ordinary Justice The issue of the relationship between inner justice and ordinary justice has been the subject of critical discussion since it was famously raised by David Sachs. (1) In this essay,†¦show more content†¦This is the condition characterizing Cephalus. But the point made is that it is impossible to be in Cephalus condition if one has not overcome discord in ones soul, and nowhere is it suggested that psychic harmony necessarily entails the form of morality practiced by Cephalus. It would seem too quick to assume an entailment relationship as Vlastos does. A Fallacy of Equivocation? The reason that Vlastos and others have tried to argue that inner justice entails ordinary justice might be that it is often assumed that Plato was committed to answering the challenge of Glaucon and Adeimantus to show that justice as they knew it to be was beneficial to the agent apart from its consequences. If the results of inner justice fail to match their ordinary knowledge of justice, Plato would be guilty of committing a fallacy of equivocation. But it is not often noticed that Glaucon and Adeimantus have no definition of justice. They have instead the haphazard intuitions of the rest, and why should inner justice be shown to entail that? They merely take up Thrasymachus question about whether justice is advantageous or disadvantageous to the agent, as hastily speaking of its nature (a thing honoured in the lack of vigour to do injustice) and origin, without ever giving a definition of what it is. Without, that is, respecting theShow MoreRelatedAnalysis of Platos Republic Essa y458 Words   |  2 PagesPhilosophy is a Greek word meaning love of wisdom. Throughout Platos Republic, wisdom plays an important role. According to Plato, education is wisdom. In the passage, 518d, Plato discusses the true meaning of education vicariously through Socrates. Some literary mechanisms can be found in the passage and I will show how they fit in the text and how they contribute to the main themes of Platos Republic. 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