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On Praising the Appearance of Justice in Platos Republic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

P.T. Mackenzie
P.T. Mackenzie*
Affiliation:
University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SKS7N OWO
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Extract

In Book II of Plato's Republic, Glaucon, after putting on the mantle of Thrasymachus, concludes that in order for Socrates to show that justice is to be valued for its own sake, he must show that the just man who appears to be unjust is happier than the unjust man who appears to be just. In other words, according to Glaucon, Socrates must show that the just man who as a result of appearing to be unjust is thrown in prison, scoured and racked, has his eyes burned out and is finally impaled, presumably on a spear, is happier than the unjust man who through appearing to be just is rewarded with high office, wealth and is permitted to marry into the best of families. Adiemantus it will be noticed reaches a similar conclusion.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , December 1985 , pp. 617 - 624
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 1985

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References

1 All quotations, with one exception, are from A. Bloom's translation of Plato's Republic (New York, NY: Basic Books 1968).

2 I have assumed that the harmoniously souled man would be incapable of doing just deeds mainly for the rewards. In other words, being harmoniously souled is sufficient in any situation to ensure that he does just deeds simply for the sake of doing just deeds.

3 Actually there are a number of (possible?) people here that could be sorted out. Some of them are as follows:

(a) The harmoniously souled (just) man who performs just deeds for the sake of performing just deeds.

(b) The harmoniously souled (just) man who performs just deeds partly for the sake of rewards.

(c) The disharmoniously souled (unjust) man who performs just deeds for the sake of rewards.

(d) The disharmoniously souled (unjust) man who performs unjust deeds which appear to be just deeds for the sake of rewards.

4 Cross, R. C. and Woosley, A. D. Plato's Republic (London, England: Macmillan 1964), 38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 The Republic of Plato , Conford, F. M. (Trs.) (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1941), 18 (339 a).Google Scholar

6 The words in square brackets are mine.

7 Plato is not aware of it, but then neither is anyone else. The only exception is Pitkin, H. F. See her brilliant account in Wittgenstein and Justice , (California: University of California Press 1972). 169–72.Google Scholar