Book One – What is Just? What is Right? What is Due?

Humans are very diverse. We come in every size, shape, and can be found all over the world. We were all born with what the Declaration of Independence calls a natural right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” One aspect of our humanity that connects us all is that we are all searching for answers to questions like how do we run our lives, how are we going to pursue happiness, and what will be right and just in a situation.

The questions of how to run our lives is something that we see strewn throughout literature. In Douglas Adam’s book the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the characters are looking for the answer to the ultimate question. In Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken,” he asks which road he should take, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both…” Finally, in Plato’s Republic Book One, what is just and what is right are the questions the characters wrestle with and explore.

Right away in Book One of Plato’s Republic, we meet Socrates, in the city of Piraeus. It is a port town, with many different groups and ideas that are considered outlandish by mainstream Greek culture. The city is known for its innovation. It was seen as a haven for new discussions to take place and new ideas to be tossed around. There were a variety of opinions on how a person should approach life and the decisions that are faced.

While on his way out of Piraeus, Socrates was spotted by his friend Polemarchus. He persuaded Socrates to come back to his house. They wanted to have a discussion. The house was all set so the discussion could start as soon as they got there.

Socrates first starts talking with Cephalus, Polemachus’ father. Socrates is interested in finding out from Cephalus what it is like to be in “the threshold of old age.” Cephalus talks about how when he was younger he had much more of an appetite for vices like sex, “drinking bouts”, and feasts. Now that he is older he realizes that these activities were not the best. Cephalus refers to the activities as “savage masters.”

Socrates then brings up money. He wonders if money is at the root of Cephalus’ contentment. Cephalus says, he has not been content but lives in fear. He has started to think more about the after life and his fear of eternity in Hades. He has spent many sleepless nights worrying about the unjust deeds that he has performed and his unpaid debts. He emphasizes the importance of leading a good, holy, and just life, which brings a person much hope.

Cephalus points out that living a high and moral life is great but that there is also a need for money. He says that wealth is not the highest thing but it is an important tool in living an intelligent life. The amount of money that a person has contributes to how they go about living. Their natural question is if they are supposed to be living right and just lives, what is justice?

Cephalus weakly defines justice as being “the truth and giving back what a man has taken from another.” Socrates asks if a weapon should be given back to an angry friend, even if it is the friend’s property. What would be just? It is not just to give it back. Cephalus’ definition of justice does not stand up.

Polemarchus quickly jumps in with his definition of justice, “giving to each man what is owed to him.” If this definition is taken more in the general sense, it seems to be much more accurate. Socrates seems to take it with much more of a limited scope, more in a physical or monetary sense. It can be debated what Polemarchus meant by the definition.

Socrates takes on the definition by comparing it to the art of medicine or cooking. If a man is a cook, seasoning is what is owed to the meat. If a man is a doctor, then medicine and becoming healthier is what is due to the patient. What happens where there is no food to cook or no patient to heal? Are these men useless? Socrates finds Polemarcus’ definition of justice flawed.

Socrates, in limiting his ideas of what is due or owed to physical things, does not see that giving what is due is a way a person runs their life. It is doing what is right and prudent in a situation. It is finding the right “road” to take.

The discussions advances on to whether it is just to do right to your friends and to harm your enemies. The truthfulness of a man must be considered in this situation. What if a person is two-faced? He acts as your friend but is actually not. On the flip side, what if a friend acts as if he is not your friend but really is? A person would not know when to do right and when to do harm.

Another question is can it be just to harm another human being? Does harming another human being really make them more just or apt to live a high and moral life? They both agree that it does not.

Thrasymachus can not hold himself back any longer. He wants to know what Socrates’ definition of justice is. Thrasymachus considers justice to be “the advantage of the stronger.” He claims that when a stronger party makes laws, no matter what system of rule (democratic or tyrannical), they are doing it for their own advantage.

Socrates takes on Thrasymacus’ argument. What about when a ruler makes mistakes? It is just for the ruled to do what is commanded. What is to be done when the ruler commands something unjust? Then it is just to disobey. The ruler will not always make decisions to their advantage.

Socrates brings up the example of the doctor caring for the sick. Is the doctor solely working for his own benefit? Most certainly not! He is doing it for his benefit and the benefit of sick. Thrasymacus later comes to the conclusion that, “justice and the just are really someone else’s good.”

They then come to the conclusion that there is a soul and that the work of the just is the work of the soul. The just place a high importance on the virtues of the soul. Those people will also be very profitable.

Like the people in Book One, how often do we ask the same questions and have these same debates? We want to know what is just. We grapple with whether we should do what is advantageous for us and whether what we do will be for the common good. Will this action bring good things to me and harm my enemies? Will I be harmed? There are many answers to these questions, all of which will be debated till the end of humanity.