<\/p>\n
Plato\u2019s Use of the Socratic Method to Define Justice<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Plato teaches the reader about justice specifically through two techniques: asking questions and creating analogies via his teacher Socrates. \u00a0First he poses broad questions such as, \u201cWhat is Justice?\u201d and whether or not is it more beneficial than injustice? \u00a0He allows others to answer him and finds flaws in their arguments. Socrates disproves two common definitions of justice. \u00a0By finding out what is not justice it will help determine what it is. \u00a0In addition, Plato has Socrates ask very specific and simple questions to prove his points. \u00a0For example, Socrates asks, \u201cBut with natures like that, Glaucon, how will they avoid being like savages to one another and to the other citizens?\u201d (Plato). \u00a0Socrates already knows the answer to this question but he is making sure everyone can follow his argument. \u00a0By taking it slow and asking questions, he leaves no holes in his argument. \u00a0Asking questions also gives his listeners a chance to follow along and notify Socrates when they are confused. \u00a0Many times in chapter two Glaucon asks questions such as \u201cIn what way?\u201d so Socrates can clarify his meaning. \u00a0\u00a0The next technique is his use of analogies to draw similarities between his arguments and real world scenarios. \u00a0In the quotation above Socrates refers to his analogy connecting a dog and how a good guardian should act. \u00a0He later makes the point that because a dog can be both \u201chigh-spirited and gentle,\u201d then it must be possible for humans to acquire these natures as well. \u00a0He then states, \u201cand what we are seeking in a good guardian is not contrary to nature\u201d (Plato). By making analogies with things found in nature he proves his point. \u00a0Because dogs can have both of these natures than it must be possible for man to have them as well. \u00a0This is helpful for the reader because it establishes a connection between his point and something similar found in this world. \u00a0By finding connections to nature and asking questions Socrates makes his point very efficiently and carefully. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In addition to asking broad questions, Socrates uses a broad strategy to define justice. \u00a0Instead of focusing on what a just individual is like, Socrates seeks to build a just society, step by step. He looks for justices within his Republic and plans to find similarities between that and the individual. \u00a0This is both important and effective because it is difficult to simply find justice for an individual. \u00a0Without a society justice is non existent. \u00a0One man alone can not be just or unjust there must be other people to interact with. \u00a0The Republic is Socrates\u2019 means of finding how justice can be achieved by a society. \u00a0Then, once the society has been made, the just individual will become more clear. \u00a0For a society to be just members of the society must be just as well. \u00a0Even if there is a very strong legal and political system, people in the society can still be unjust. \u00a0The only way to truly create a just society requires justice both in the society and in its members.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nPlato\u2019s Use of the Socratic Method to Define Justice
\n
\nPlato teaches the reader about justice specifically through two techniques: asking questions and creating analogies via his teacher Socrates. \u00a0First he poses broad questions such as,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[33147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-student-posts","column","twocol"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6CkTy-3s","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/fysutopiasfall2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/fysutopiasfall2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/fysutopiasfall2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/fysutopiasfall2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/fysutopiasfall2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/fysutopiasfall2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/fysutopiasfall2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/fysutopiasfall2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/fysutopiasfall2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}