The Republic of Plato explores the meaning of Justice from both an individual and societal point of view. It also looks into the incorporation of Justice into human society, in other words, how to create an ideal state of social order in a society. This is carried out through the various dialogues and arguments between Socrates and other individuals. During this process, Socrates gave a detailed analysis of the formation, structure and the organization of an ideal State, and through this, vindicate the intrinsic value of being a Just person in a society and the virtues that each individual must possess.
In the dialogue with Glaucon and Adeimantus, where Socrates discussed about Justice in the State, he pointed out that there will be three orders in the State: the Rulers (legislative and deliberative), A
In my opinion, this way of classifying the social function in a society is too much of a theoretical model and is rather extreme. The 'ideal' society or the so called 'Utopia', proposes that the citizens should sacrifice their individual freedom and personal desires to commit to a higher purpose. From today's point of view, this is clearly anti-democratic. However, there is no doubt that this type of societal structure has its own benefits in a way that the whole city operates smoothly, exhibiting harmony that is genuinely 'Justice', as what Socrates professes.
Nevertheless, Socrates' ideas had laid out the basis and fundamentals of political governance of a society. Having done so, we are now able to improvise and create this 'ideal' society that is suitable for our contemporary life today.
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