“How does Plato teach the reader about justice through Socratic dialogue?”
Plato’s use of Socratic dialogue to unravel the intricacies of justice never fully gives the reader a clear explanation of what justice truly is. However, by negating various definitions of justice, the reader learns what justice is not. By learning what qualities justice cannot entail, the reader is able to form his/her own ideas on what justice may in fact then be. This is the main way that Plato teaches the reader about justice in Book 1. Although Socrates does not give a clear answer of what justice is at the end of the book, the reader learns that justice cannot be advantageous for the stronger or doing good for one’s friends and harm towards one’s enemies.
In Book 2, Plato changes his approach from presenting many different ideas of justice simply to have them shot down shortly after, to a more thoughtful and conversational approach to justice. Glaucon’s story of the Ring of Gyges is used to rove is point that any man would be unjust if he knew he would not face consequences. Although this point seems to be very logical, Plato has made it clear to the reader that justice is the highest moral principle known to mankind therefore injustice cannot be something that all men want. Glaucon’s story and view of justice is not met with utter refute from Socrates, rather Socrates goes on to describe a city in which justice is always in play. This is the first time the reader is exposed to Plato’s idea of the perfect society. This place where no injustice can occur is clearly a utopia.
In describing his idealistic city, Socrates creates three classes of people, producers, merchants, and warriors. People work according to their natural talents and stay away from partaking in anything else that they do not specialize in. Plato goes on to speak of the warrior class for the rest of the book and poses a few idealistic ideas. First, he says that the warrior class will only be told positive stories about the Gods in order to not poison the souls of the warriors. Controlling what stories the warriors are told is deceiving and does not in fact prepare them for the realities of the world. Socrates does not speak of educating the other classes but rather only focuses on the guardians. Plato continues to attempt to educate the reader on justice by listing more reasons as to why the guardians would be pure souled. Plato rules out art forms such as poetry and painting, both limitations to self-expression. Overall, the city that Plato creates in the Second Book to help teach the reader about justice is too idealized.