Plato's "Republic" and Justice

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how justice is ultimately an unknowable concept if we accept Plato's ideas of 'form' or the essential nature of concepts. It looks at how ,in the "Republic", Plato presents several intelligent and well-thought-out discussions about the nature of justice and how he refutes the arguments that justice is simply rewarding friends or asserting the interests of the strong. It examines how he ultimately concludes that the goal of life is the pursuit of what is just and that a just life makes man happy.

From the Paper:

"Eventually, Plato (through the voice of Thrasymachus) argues that justice is essentially asserting the interests of the stronger. "I believe that Periander or Perdiccas or Xerxes or Ismenias the Theban, or some other rich and mighty man, who had a great opinion of his own power, was the first to say that justice is 'doing good to your friends and harm to your enemies" (Plato, The Republic). Thrasymachus notes fiercely that injustice benefits the ruler completely, while Sophocles argues that true rule is just, thus offering unity, harmony and strength. By the end of the discussion, Thrasymachus has been convinced that the just man is happy, while the unjust man is unhappy."

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