Plato’s Republic is a book with many important themes, but the nature of justice stands out the most. The Republic’s idea of the perfect city revolves around justice and applies this idea of how people should work, and the parts of the soul. Also, how these two things are helpful or a hindrance.
To find a better understanding of justice, Socrates wants to know what makes a person just and what effects just people would have on society. I think the conversation between Socrates and Cephalus contribute to why justice is difficult to define. The explanation Cephalus gives does not satisfy Socrates’, which makes him want to find out more about justice. This leads to Socrates creation of a Kallipolis. The Kallipolis is the ideal city, with a perfect structure and just people. Socrates chose the city so he could understand justice and apply it to an individual.
…show more content…
Applying the concept of justice to a bigger object would have allowed Socrates to get rid of the problems he could not solve when talking about the individual. Also, this helped Socrates to see if making a just city was even possible. It is very hard to come up with a just society; but, his efforts are applauded. However, certain aspects of his ideal city would cause problems in today’s society. Socrates’ idea of how people should be divided and have children in the Kallipolis is something that would cause an uproar. Based on today’s society, having people divided into certain groups would not help justice, but create injustices and hostilities towards one another. This would cause the soul of the people to become unjust and cause one part of the soul to dominate over the