Plato · Philosophy
Plato’s vision of the just society in the <em>Republic</em> - ruled by philosopher-kings, with each class performing its proper role - and his profound, controversial answer to what justice is.
Plato’s Republic - one of the most influential works in the history of philosophy - is organised around a single great question: what is justice, and is the just person happier than the unjust? Challenged by the claim (voiced by Thrasymachus and Glaucon) that justice is merely the interest of the stronger, or a compromise the weak accept, and that the unjust person who gets away with it is happier than the just, Plato sets out to discover what justice really is and to show that the just life is the best and happiest. To find justice, Plato proposes to look for it first in the city (where it is ‘writ large’ and easier to discern) and then in the soul - building, in the process, a complete vision of the ideal just state and the just soul. The Republic is thus a profound inquiry into the nature of justice, both in the state and in the individual, and a vision of the ideal just society and the just life.
Plato’s definition of justice emerges from this structure: justice is each part performing its proper role - each class (or part of the soul) doing its own proper work and not interfering with the others, so that the whole is in harmony. In the just state, justice consists in each class performing its proper function - the rulers ruling, the auxiliaries defending, the producers producing - each doing its own work and not meddling in the others’, so that the state is in harmony, well-ordered, each part fulfilling its role. Injustice, by contrast, is the disorder that results when the parts do not perform their proper roles - when one class meddles in another’s work, when the parts are in conflict, when (especially) the lower classes (or parts) usurp the rule that belongs to the wise (or reason). Justice is thus the right ordering and harmony of the parts, each performing its proper role under the rule of the wise/reason; injustice is the disorder that results when the parts do not keep to their proper roles. This definition - justice as each part performing its proper role, in harmony, under the rule of the wise/reason - applies both to the just state (each class doing its work) and the just soul (each part doing its work), connecting Plato’s political philosophy and psychology in a unified conception of justice as harmony through proper role.
Plato’s vision of the ideal state thus culminates in the rule of the philosopher-kings - the rule of the wise, who alone have knowledge of the good and so alone are fit to govern. The philosopher-kings, having ascended through a rigorous education to knowledge of the Forms and the Good, alone know what is truly good for the state and human life, and so alone can govern wisely for the genuine common good. They rule not for their own benefit but for the good of all - selflessly governing for the common good, using their wisdom for the benefit of the whole state. And they are produced by a rigorous, lifelong education - selected and trained from youth, educated in mathematics, dialectic, and philosophy, tested and proven, ascending finally to knowledge of the Good and the responsibility of rule. Plato’s ideal state is governed by these philosopher-rulers - the wise, who know the good and govern for the common good - in a vision of government by knowledge and wisdom, the rule of those who know the true good. This vision - that the wise should rule, that knowledge of the good qualifies for government, that the ideal state is governed by philosopher-kings - is Plato’s profound and controversial answer to the question of who should rule and how the state should be governed.
This is the opening of the lesson. The rest — the dialogue, the primary source, and the recall — is in the app.
You learned that Plato’s Republic describes an ideal state ruled by philosopher-kings, with justice as each class performing its proper role. Explain Plato’s vision of the just state and his definition of justice, in your own words.
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