Justice in Plato's Republic

The purpose of this research is to examine the discussion of justice in the first four books of Plato's Republic. The plan of the research will be to set forth Socrates's basic argument for the defense of justice, an explanation of what it is, and then to discuss whether his explanation of what justice is, is justified. This research will suggest why aspects of the explanation of justice in The Republic appear to be flawed.

One element of the universe that plato's defense of justice does not seem to admit is that of what might be called randomness. Randomness of human psychology, which is to say moral randomness, influenced by natural events and the actions of other human beings, injects an element of unpredictability for which the most intellectually and psychologically serene of just men cannot plan. Randomness, a morally neutral abstraction, at least as much as injustice, which is a negative abstraction, can be opposed to justice in a way that troubles the definitiveness with which the discussion proceeds. And it is randomness and psychology that define history. To put it another way, The Republic's discussion of justice, meant as it is to influence the course of human events, actually ignores the facts of history.

To be sure, the integrity of Socrates's way of life, and more important that of his way of death, suggests that the wholly integrated psychology and practice of justice will answer a host of contingencies. Indeed, the practice of justice,

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fit of several thousand years of philosophy comprising knowledge of what constitutes justice behind it, today's world would function in justice, according to that knowledge. Any who are unjust would be educated or certainly purged from the realm of public service. But of course the opposite is the case. Far from acting on knowledge of justice, the world, men, states, and in particular some few rulerguardians of states, behave in a way that is antithetical to and contemptuous of justice. Even some rulers who are considered sincerely justwho may perhaps consider that they act in justicemay respond to unpredictable events unpredictably. How, for example, can one explain the paradox of Mikhail Gorbachev, Nobel Peace Prize Winner in 1990, who in 1991 wields political authority by means of tanks? Is the problem in events that loom larger than anyone's ability to handle, or is it in the psychology of a clever political authoritarian? In short, there is no living example of the Republic of which Socrates speaks and to which he aspires. Still less is there a harmony of spirit and action in the personal relationships of individuals. This is acknowledged toward the end of Book IV, in the summary of the qualities and psychology o

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