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Assignment 1: Plato's Republic Book Two Mind Map
Eleanor Orser
Department of Humanitarian Studies, Royal Roads University
JUST 303: History and Philosophy of Justice in the Canadian Context until 1867
Wolfgang Depner
October 12, 2021
Book II of Plato's Republic explores the idea of virtue, the Just City and power and their influence on the definition of justice. Our guides for this exploration are Socrates, Adeimantus and Glaucon who engage in a lively discourse about the different kinds of virtue, how reputation influences power, and which are modeled at the different levels of the Just City.
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Several definitions of Justice are explored in Book 2.
Glaucon takes his position as the devil's advocate. He urges Socrates to defend justice "in respect to itself" (Plato, 360 BCE/1856, p.52) In doing so, Glaucon revives Thrasymachus' argument from book 1 that justice is a product of those in power asserting their own interests. Glaucon describes that the origin of justice is having experience injustice or not having the privilege to behave unjustly. He describes that people act justly due to necessity and that the unjust life is better than the just life (p.53-54).
When confronted by Glaucon, Socrates argues that justice is of the highest class of virtue (a concept explored next in this presentation) because justice is valuable for its own sake and for its rewards (Plato, 360 BCE/1856, p.51).
Adeimantus argues that no one praises justice for its own sake, but for its rewards. He argues that it is better to embody a just persona and project it outwards even if it isn't true on the inside because then you get the benefits of the rewards of being perceived as just without having to put forth the sacrifice required to be just (Plato, 360 BCE/1856, p.57).
The idea of reputation is discussed in greater detail later in this presentation
Glaucon categorizes goods into three classes (Plato, 360 BCE/1856, p.51):
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Power
Several themes involving the power of reputation are discussed in book 2 of the Republic.
Glaucon argues that laws arise from people having experienced both doing and committing injustice and being unable to avoid injustice or obtain justice (Plato, 360 BCE/1856, p.53)
He goes on to describe that people act justly involuntarily because "they do not have the power to be unjust." (Plato, 360 BCE/1856, p.53)
Glaucon uses the story of Gyges to emphasize how, if given the chance, people will commit injustice.
"No man would keep his hands off what was not his own when he could safely take what he liked." (Plato, 360 BCE/1856, p.54)
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He emphasizes that families often encourage their children to behave justly in order to obtain favour with the gods (Plato, 360 BCE/1856, p.57).
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Later on, the idea of the Philosopher Kings as the rulers of the Just City is described.
This is where the idea of natural vocation for certain tasks is introduced.
At this point in the discussion, the idea of stratification is discernible as Socrates emphasizes that it is their duty to select people with "natural aptitude" for certain jobs (pg.69).
People of the Feverish City example: Military types.
The desired behaviour of producers: These people are industrious and engage in moderation. They are sacrificial in nature.
In Book II of Plato's Republic Socrates, Glaucon and Adeimantus explore the concept of justice by attempting to understand the layers of virtue, the complexities of powerful people's reputations, and the characteristics of people at different layers of the Just City.
Reference: Plato. (360 BCE) Book II. In B. Jowett (Trans.) The Republic (pp. 51-79). http://pinkmonkey.com/dl/library1/republic.pdf