Running head: PLATO’S REPUBLIC

« Running head: PLATO’S REPUBLIC Plato’s view of Justice, the Soul, and Eudaimonia Thea Pyaneandee Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland 1 PLATO’S REPUBLIC 2 In this essay, I will discuss the work of Plato, The Republic, in which he, using the voice of Socrates, argues that a just soul is in fact a “happy” soul.

Ultimately this journey would lead the typical human being to reach eudaimonia, literally translated from Greek to English as happiness, but actually meaning self-actualization.

As Richard Kraut puts it in his article, Socrates “argues for the immortality of the soul and the existence and importance of the forms of beauty, justice, goodness, and the like.” (Kraut, 2017). First, in Book Two, Glaucon and Adeimantus argue against philosopher Socrates, who is articulating Plato’s thoughts, regarding the value of a justice.

Glaucon, for one, brings forth the Social Contract theory, arguing that if laws were to be removed, human beings will succumb to their egoistic desires.

Second, Adeimantus argues that people only value justice for the rewards it brings, pinpointing moral education and mystery religion being its prime factors: “it is always practised with reluctance, not as good in itself, but as a thing one cannot do without” (Plato, 3).

And finally, Glaucon reiterates by narrating the ‘Ring of Gyges’ which expresses that anyone possessing the ring which makes them invisible , and thus being let off of any negative consequences, would act in the same way as the shepherd in the story. Thus, Glaucon makes a final argument, that if given full licence to do whatever they like, a just man would actually behave in the same way that an unjust man would: “We shall catch the just man taking the same road as the unjust; he will be moved by self-‐interest” (Plato, 4). Next, in Book Four, Plato starts his counter-argument against Glaucon and Adeimantus and introduces us to his perspective of the ‘psyche’ or more specifically, the human soul.

As Eric Brown so puts it, “Socrates seeks to define justice as one of the cardinal human virtues, and he understands the virtues as states of the soul.

So his account of what justice is depends upon his account of the human soul.” (Brown, 2017).

Socrates suggests that the nature of the soul can be understood by looking at the nature of a well-formed state: his reasoning is such that, as a state is made up of people, the character and structure of the PLATO’S REPUBLIC 3 state should mirror the character of the people in it.

He states that it has a tri-partite structure and consists of three main parts: the reason, appetite, and spirit (Plato, 116) and similar to a just or stable state, a just or a “happy” soul as he puts it, is one where each part plays its proper role.

For instance, Socrates goes on to explain what role the rational element plays in this picture: In Book Four, reason is characterized by its ability to track what is good for each part and the soul as a whole (Plato, 117). In Book Four, Socrates also offers reasons in support of his understanding of the soul, namely his “argument from opposites”.

For instance, a man might.... »