Plato Republic
The Justice of “The Republic” In his book “the Republic”, Plato tried to build up an ideal society. He divided the ideal society into three classes: rulers, guardians, and workers. As long as each class of people lived harmonious and did their responsibilities, the society would become stable and prosperous. How did make people live with harmony? Obviously, the core issue of “the republic” is justice. Justice is a proper, harmonious relationship among the people in the three classes. Plato suggested that three virtues of individual which were wisdom, courage, and moderation would make individual person just. Also, in order to get the justice, Plato used the “Gold lie” to placate unhappiness with one’s place in life. The three classes were component of the society, and each of these three classes has a certain virtue. The first class of people is rulers. The rulers had the virtues of wisdom. They were the minority of the ideal society who needed to be knowledgeable. They were not easily deceived, and must care for the society greatly. Their responsibility was to pursue what was most advantageous to the society and maintain the stability of the society. The second class is guardians. Guardians were the people who protect the entire society. They had the virtues of courage. They must receive physical training and had patriotic attitude to defend the country from enemies. The last class is workers. They were the majority of people in the society who practice specific form of labors. They provided necessary food, clothing and other needs for all people in the whole society. Because they must obey the order of the rulers and were regulated by the guardians, they had virtues of moderation. The idea of harmony is very important for Plato to definite justice. As Plato explains: “Justice, I think, is exactly what we said must be established throughout the city when we were founding it that everyone must practice one of the occupations in the city for which he is