plato
...both, it seems profitable – to those who are not able to escape the one and choose the other – to set down a compact among themselves neither to do injustice nor to suffer it. And from there they began to set down their own laws and compacts and to name what the law commands lawful and just. And this, then is the genesis and being of justice; it is a mean between what is best – doing injustice without paying the penalty – and what is worst – suffering injustice without being able to avenge oneself.”(358c ff.) This statement describes the nature of justice and injustice from the point of view of those in favour of injustice and lays down the foundation against which Socrates must argue in order to prove that the just life is better than a life of injustice. At the heart of Glaucon’s argument is the idea that all humans are born as unjust beings. That the goal of all men is to do what seems good and beneficial for themselves without consideration to how it effects the well being of others. However, In a society where everyone acts according to this concept of human nature, we are all bound to suffer from the injustices committed by others. His argument claims that justice arises from the fear of suffering injustice. It relies on the principle that injustice is naturally good for people but suffering it is bad and that the weight of the bad far exceeds that of the good in doing it. Therefore, justice is created as a means between the two. This, as Glaucon puts it, “is the genesis and being of justice”(359a). In Glaucon’s argument injustice is described as innate to all people while justice is described as a man made concept. A concept that was created and is followed in order to avoid the pain and suffering that would result from life in the natural state. Justice, therefore, is only practiced out of necessity and goes on to explain: “that even those who practice it do so unwillingly, from incapacity to do injustice” (359c). Glaucon continues to explain that when the consequences of facing the rule of law and the loss of good reputation are removed then, if given the opportunity, any man would naturally chose injustice over justice. He continues to illustrate his point with the story of the ring of justice (359d-360d). Thus, we have a need for justice: law and order and the political regime to enforce it. Laws are set down and agreement is made to deny human nature its right to self-expression to minimize pain and suffering. In such a society, with human nature being as such, the human soul could never achieve total fulfillment as it is restricted by laws that prevent expression and fulfillment of desire. The only people who benefit are those in a position of power who can live their lives unjustly and yet still seem to be just and hold the reputation of a just person. This is the ideal situation. The idea that injustice is the nature of all people and justice is a man made concept that is the philosophical principle against which Socrates argues. For Socrates, justice and goodness exists in the souls of all humans. It is. However, corrupted and misguided by the society in which we live. Through the things we read, are told, and the stories we hear we become convinced that the just life is more difficult and hardly worth the struggle. Socrates, wanting to show that justice is better and is in the heart of all souls and that injustice is neither, and with Glaucon and Adeimantus wanting to learn, begins the task of discovering the essence of justice, where it comes from and the power it holds. The task of examining the human soul, that of a truly just person and of a truly unjust person, is no easy one. To understand justice by looking at one human soul is like trying to understand the functions of the entire human body by examining one tiny cell under a microscope. It is much easier to see how all the cells work together to make the human body function in order to understand the function of that one tiny cell. It would be easier to understand justice and where it comes from by observing how each individual just person would work together to form a fully functioning and truly just city. For Socrates says “perhaps there would be more justice in the bigger and it would be easier to observe closely . . . first we’ll investigate wh...