Introduction:
sourceIn Plato’s Republic, Socrates surmises that a just man is happier than an unjust man. To prove his point, he begins by designing a city for the purpose of defining justice and injustice. In this city, Guardians, who are just beyond reproach, sacrifice their own happiness in order to look after the greater good of the city and its inhabitants. In so doing, justice becomes the same in the city as in the individual.
Socrates surmises
That a just man is happier than an unjust man.
Happiness is achieved through psychic harmony which infuses the three aspects of the soul: reason, spirit and appetite, with the principles of do no harm and fulfill all just commitments.
Socrates further surmises that if psychic harmony is achieved, such that the city is governed well and everyone in the city is the best they can be at their given craft, happiness can be had by all. Socrates argues that justice can be found in each person doing their own work, in just fashion, leaving them too busy to pay attention to others or to covet what others have.
Psychic harmony, thus achieved, allows justice to prevail
sourceAvoiding injustice and the chaos it brings. Psychic harmony within an individual leads to psychic harmony within the city thereby achieving the greater good of the city and its inhabitants. The greater good of the city and its inhabitants as the responsibility of all aids the Guardians making their sacrifice their happiness.
FIN
Works Cited
Cherniss, Harold. “The Philosophical Economy of the Theory of Ideas.” The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 57, No.4 (1936), pp 445-456. The Johns Hopkins Press, http://www.jstor.org/stable/290396.
Colson, Darrel. “Elenctic Arguments in Republic I.” Lecture on Plato. Centenary College, Louisiana. September- October 2008.
Grube, G. M. A., C.D.C. Reeve. Plato. Republic. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc: Indianapolis/Cambridge, 1992.
Vlastos, Gregory, editor. Plato II: A Collection of Critical Essays. Notre Dame: The University of Notre Dame Press, 1971.
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