The State and the Individual

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This paper will attempt to critically examine Plato's theory of justice, with a particular emphasis upon how it figures in Plato's construction of his ideal society in the Republic. It will be argued that, while Plato does acknowledge the importance of "commonsense" views of justice as revolving about the acts of crime and punishment, in general his theory of justice represents a radical departure from what the average Canadian, or indeed Athenian, citizen would conceive of as being "justice". Plato, it will be argued, depicts justice not merely as an ideal abstraction, nor as a list of restricted actions imposed upon human freedom. Instead, his discussion of justice represents an attempt to reform - through the rhetorical means of a dialogue - contemporary theories of justice from an "act-centred" approach to an "agent-centred" one. This attempt, which has sometimes been read as Plato's aversion to the brutal realities of justice in favour of refined abstraction, may be seen to mark a fundamental shift in Athenian political philosophy from the collective to the individual.

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