Plato's Concept of Justice and Current Political Scenarios
Justice is essential for peace and harmony in societies. Everyone in this world wants equal and fair treatment. Whether it is on the streets, in courts, or in work places, justice is necessary in everyone’s daily life. But what really is justice? In Plato’s Republic, Socrates and his counterparts each have their own definition of justice and fail to reach a consensus regarding the definition of justice. Justice is a concept that is speculative and not conclusive. Plato not only talks about the virtues of justice of an individual but also a society. He also explains a just society and the role of a just individual in that society.
Aristotle, on the other hand, has despite their limitations, many of Plato’s ideal principles in the Republic continue to hold relevance in today’s world. For example, Plato brings up the point that leaders should be qualified through education and that voters should be empowered to make informed decisions. Most societies also follow the idea of a meritocracy, where people get success or power because of their abilities, not because of their financial or social status. Plato’s theories on justice have influenced the current justice system we have today by providing foundational cornerstones that have been consistent throughout history. The different definitions of justice mentioned by interlocutors in the Republic have influenced the modern justice system in place today. In book one of the Republic, Thrasymachus says, “. . . each type of rule makes laws that are advantageous for itself: democracy makes democratic ones, tyranny tyrannical ones, and so on with the others. And by so legislating, each declares that what is just for its subjects is what is advantageous for itself — the ruler — and it punishes anyone who deviates from this as lawless and unjust. That, Socrates, is what I say justice is, the same in all cities: what is advantageous for the established rule. Since the established rule is surely stronger, anyone who does the rational calculation correctly will conclude that the just is the same everywhere — what is advantageous for the stronger. ” Thrasymachus claims that justice is the advantageous of the stronger. He backs up his argument by giving a clear example that rulers only make laws that benefit themselves. By doing so, they declare what is just and unjust, and people are unjust if they do not follow the laws. Many countries still follow this justice system.
Currently, there are many nations under classic dictatorship, hybrid regime, absolute monarchy, and undemocratic constitutional monarchy. A single leader or group of leaders have the absolute authority and use their supremacy to keep themselves in power. One example is in North Korea. The leader, Kim Jong-un, persecuted his own uncle for sleeping in a meeting. According to Thrasymachus’s definition of justice, Kim is being just because he did what he believed was right and took the advantage of being stronger. Thrasymachus’s definition of justice can not only be applied to nations with leaders who have the absolute authority, but also democratic countries. Democracy is a system of government in which people choose their rulers by voting for them in elections. The citizens hold the power. Therefore, in this case, the people have the advantage of justice in a democracy according to Thrasymachus’s definition of justice. Thrasymachus’s definition of justice reveals that justice is relative to the rulers of the regime. An example of this is the different connotations of justice in communist nations, such as China, and democratic nations, such as America. Several basic liberties such as the freedom of speech, religion, and press are very limited in China, but ample in America. Although the laws in the two nations are very different, each nation is just because the leaders made the laws for their advantage.
Plato strived for what he believed to be the perfect system. Each nation strives for what they believe to is the most effective system. He knows that there cannot be an ideal system, but we should all strive for the perfect one. Just how there are many different types of governments today like communism and democracy, Plato talks about five different types of regimes in the Republic. Although the understanding of all five regimes have progressed drastically from Plato’s time to now, the different types of governments in our world today are derived from Plato’s original five regimes. Plato's five regimes are not only the origin to the types of governments in today’s world but they also provide a greater point that still relevant today. Plato sets the five regimes as inherently connected to each other. Each following regime is a degenerative of the previous one. Democracy is the fourth regime and democracy would fall into tyranny. Plato assumed democracy where freedom is the main good is also its slavery. As the poor classes become larger and larger, a state very similar to anarchy starts to reign as people start breaking laws. In book eight of the Republic, Plato introduces various representatives of different regimes such as aristocrats, oligarchs, and democrats. Those in the higher regimes, such as the aristocrats and timocrats, have a hierarchy of values. For example, timocrats value honor, victory, and wealth more than the refinement of an aristocrat. However, the democratic man is dominated by two ideas: freedom and equality. He has no hierarchy of values because his highest value is equality which is a shift from the higher regimes. Socrates says, “Then in his subsequent life, I suppose, someone like that spends no less money, effort, and time on the necessary pleasures than on the unnecessary pleasures. But if he is lucky and does not go beyond the limits in his bacchic frenzy, and if, as a result of his growing somewhat older, the great tumult within him passes, he welcomes back some of the exiles and ceases to surrender himself completely to the newcomers. Then, putting all his pleasures on an equal footing, he lives, always surrendering rule over himself to whichever desire comes along, as if it were chosen by lot, until it is satisfied; and after that to another, dishonoring none but satisfying all equally. ” The democratic man has been so engrossed with the idea of equality that he lacks the means to govern himself. Instead, he gives himself over to the strongest passion of the moment. The democratic man is consumed by unnecessary desire. He takes great interest in his money and all the things he can buy. He does whatever he wants whenever he wants as long as money stretches his needs. There is no order and no priority. This shows the degeneration of morals and ethics. In democracy, there is an endless, pointless pursuit for riches and to be exempt from worldly obligations to pursue pleasures and desire. The wealthiest one percent of American households own about forty percent of the country’s wealth and the globe’s richest one percent own about half of the world’s wealth, highlighting the growing gap between the richest and the rest of the world. Each number is higher than it has ever been. Because of this, the poor classes grow larger and democracy is then soon degenerated into tyranny.
In tyranny, there is no discipline and chaos reigns. Democracy is taken over by the longing of freedom. In tyranny, stability through power must be maintained and along comes a person that experiences absolute power. The individual soon transforms in a tyrant and comes closest to be fully lawless. He can murder and plunder at will. Such a man is consumed by beastly desires, whether rich or poor, his lawless actions ensure his claim of power and he becomes absorbed by paranoia in fear of retaliation for the many unlawful acts he has committed. Eventually, he becomes secluded and trapped within an environment like his room, trapped in his own fearful mind. An example of this in today’s world is Turkey which is degenerating into a tyranny from a democracy. Erdogan accuses innocent civilians of conspiring against him and is slowly turning into a tyrant as Plato expected. Also, in most democratized countries, societies are slowly moving into chaos. In India, the number of recorded rapes is increasing; in America, mass shootings and racial violence are becoming more common; and in countries in Europe, shooting sprees and terrorist attacks are rising constantly. Plato predicted that democratic nations would end up as democratic anarchies which results in a need of order and the rise of a tyrant. Plato is not interested in fairness in his ideal justice system. Socrates says in book five, “It follows from our previous agreement that the best men should mate with the best women in as many cases as possible, while the opposite should hold of the worst men and women; and that the offspring of the former should be reared, but not that of the latter, if our flock is going to be an eminent one. And all this must occur without anyone knowing except the rulers — if, again, our herd of guardians is to remain as free from faction as possible. ” In communist nations such as China, the government abandons disabled children and do not take care of the old and sick. This is very similar to Plato’s idea that the offspring of the worst men and women should be taken care of last if taken care of at all. Also, there were three phases of euthanasia killings in Nazi Germany. There was child euthanasia from 1939 to 1945, adult euthanasia from 1940 to 1945, and disabled or detainee euthanasia, called Action 14f13 from 1941-1944. Plato’s breeding principles sound very similar to the Nazi idea of killing weak and disabled individuals.
Plato’s principles of justice have provided a foundation of values that have been consistently remained unchanged throughout history. Socrates says in book six, “Truthfulness; that is to say they must never willingly tolerate falsehood in any form. On the contrary, they must hate it and have a natural affection for the truth. ” Socrates claims that people must speak the truth in every situation and falsehood leads to injustice. For example, in ancient Athens, hundreds to thousands of citizens would appear in court to be a juror. This was done to get unbiased views on cases. Ancient Athens believed that all free men should speak up against injustice and yearned for the truth in everything which is what Plato presents. The court system in many nations, such as America, parallel the court of Athens in many ways. Although there are far fewer jurors, every citizen is obligated to go on jury duty. The court system in America has a similar structure to the court of Athens in the aspect that they both only listen to the truth.
Plato’s Republic has much to offer political and democratic theory today. The idea that governments should act in their citizens’ best interests seems to be a given today, but tyrants were the norm when Plato wrote about his ideal society. Plato has influenced the current justice system we have today by providing a basis of values that have been consistent throughout history until now.
In his Politics, Aristotle describes the role that politics and political communities must play in bringing about the virtuous life in citizens. He also provides analysis of the kinds of political communities that existed in his time and shows where and how these cities fall short of the ideal community of virtuous citizens. Although the modern world has clearly advanced beyond his thought in many ways — for example, his belief in the inferiority of women and his approval of slavery in at least some circumstances — there are many ideas and values in Aristotle’s philosophy that remain valuable today.
