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The Use Of The Hypothetical Perfect City In Plato's Republic

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Recommended: Justice in Plato's Republic

During Book 4 of Plato’s Republic, the focus of the discussion taking place revolves around Socrates’ hypothetical perfect city and its contents. The use of the hypothetical city aids the discussion in allowing for application of virtue, ideas, and their definitions to society before extending the argument to the individual. After having debated justice, defined the good, and outlined the education of the guardian class, it is time to circle back to Justice. Upon laying the foundation of this hypothetical city, it was time to look for the virtue within it. However, Socrates and his argumentative opposition still lacked an agreed upon definition of justice, and the ones utilized previously in discussion stemmed mostly from the ideas of what …show more content…

Socrates argues that justice in society is parallel to justice in the individual, and just as there are 3 classes in the hypothetical city (commoners, auxiliaries, guardians), there are 3 parts of the soul (rational, spirited, appetitive), with each class relating to a part of the soul; the commoners being appetitive, the auxiliaries being spirited, and the guardians being rational. Socrates continued this argument, drawing further comparisons to how in the city the “just”, rational guardians rule the city and the other classes, and how this is comparable to how the “just”, rational part of the soul rules the other parts of the soul. At this point, Socrates realizes that the idea of justice that he is getting at differs from the traditional idea of justice as a virtue being rooted in actions, and so he takes a moment to clarify, stating that justice is really related to the structure of one’s soul. Socrates then goes on to explain that those with just souls will go on to commit just acts as they are traditional thought of, and they will not stray from those norms as long as the soul remains aligned properly. Concluding his argument, Socrates equates the proper alignment of the soul with justice to being healthy, and any deviation of that towards injustice as unhealthy, health being “good” and previously outlined as a desired

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