Plato The Perfect Society
In Plato’s The Republic, he investigates the balance between justice within an individual and society as a whole, and attempts to pinpoint the meaning of the term. He classifies wisdom, courage, and moderation as the leading qualities a just person should possess. Using a multitude of hypothetical scenarios, Plato compares what should be just at a political level to the justness of one’s inner psyche. He provides many scenarios to support his statements, however his argument comes across as completely one-sided and biased. Plato’s ideal of a “perfect” society may be effective and keep the system orderly, but it deprives the majority of the population of their rights as human beings, and his idea of a just person does not match up with his idea of a just society. If one closely analyzes Plato’s “perfect” society, it is clear that it may seem perfect to the outside world, but is run in a dictator-like fashion that does not lead to living an enjoyable life. No social/economic class, even the upper class, has the freedom to do as they wish. Plato believes that this society will only fulfill its
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Justice for the society is defined as advantage of the powerful, and keeping the state running correctly and maintaining order. People’s rights, feelings, and ideas are not accounted for, as according to Plato, everyone must fulfill their duty to keep the system orderly. On the other hand, justice to an individual should revolve around self-consciousness, and knowing within the difference between right and wrong, and standing up for those beliefs. These two explanations obviously do not correlate, as it is not possible for one to express their feelings and act based upon their morals in this “perfect” society where there is no recognition, and actually discouragement, of these
Justice for the society is defined as advantage of the powerful, and keeping the state running correctly and maintaining order. People’s rights, feelings, and ideas are not accounted for, as according to Plato, everyone must fulfill their duty to keep the system orderly. On the other hand, justice to an individual should revolve around self-consciousness, and knowing within the difference between right and wrong, and standing up for those beliefs. These two explanations obviously do not correlate, as it is not possible for one to express their feelings and act based upon their morals in this “perfect” society where there is no recognition, and actually discouragement, of these