“How does Plato teach the reader about justice through Socratic dialogue?”

In Republic, Plato attempts to encapsulate the meaning of justice and what it means to be a just person. He does this through Socrates’ conversations with the different men he encounters on his walk home. Each man gave Socrates his own definition of justice, to which he responded with the flaws he saw. The first definition came from Cephalus, a wise old man who claimed justice is “to speak the truth and repay what one has borrowed”[i]. By refuting this statement, Socrates is teaching the reader that justice does not necessarily have a legal basis and that by following the law, one is not necessarily just. The next definition came from Polemarchus, who stated that “benefiting one’s friends and harming one’s enemies is justice”[ii]. Socrates, however, finds this to be flawed as well because friends are not always good people and enemies are not always bad. Therefore, Socrates is hinting to the reader that justice has to do with the character and nature of the individual. Finally, Socrates talks to Thrasymachus, who says that justice is “what is advantageous for the established rule”[iii]. Justice, therefore, is not beneficial to the just person, but rather it helps out the stronger. Socrates once again refutes this claim because being just does not always benefit the stronger, but sometimes it benefits the weaker. Through the three conversations and rebuttals, Plato teaches the reader more about justice and that there is no clear definition.

Another way Plato teaches the reader about justice is through Socrates’ development of a city. By creating a city, the reader is able to see how the community interacts and the role justice plays on a larger scale. Socrates lays out the plan of the city, and assigns different men different jobs. If each person in the city is responsible for their own job that will contribute to the betterment of the city, Socrates claims that the community will live in peace and harmony. However, as the needs of the city grow, so too does the amount of people needed to run the city. And as the population grows, the available land diminishes, causing people to become greedy and eventually leading to war. Socrates claims this is the nature of man and asks, “how will they avoid behaving like savages to one another and to the other citizens?”[iv]. He asks Glaucon if justice plays a role in this society, if people who are just are able to be kind to their friends and harm their enemies. Here, Socrates is bringing it back to one of the original definitions of justice, once again showing the flaws in the definition. Through Socrates city, Plato is teaching the reader how justice fits in a community. He is teaching the reader that justice does not prevent human nature from coming through and that justice cannot keep a community living in harmony. Through Socratic dialogue, Plato uses the negatives of justice, both in regards to the definitions and the city, to inform the reader.

 

[i] Plato, Republic, Translated by C.D.C. Reeve, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2004, 5

[ii] Plato, Republic, 9

[iii] Plato, Republic, 15

[iv] Plato, Republic, 54