Question 3 Platos Republic What the 8 9

Question #3 Plato’s Republic

What the “ 8” – “ 9” Says • Justice can neither be defined as a virtue nor an evil due to is subjective nature. Because of this entanglement of ideas, justice is ineffable.

What the “ 8” - “ 9” Says • The ineffable qualities of “justice” and “virtue” can be partially stripped away by comparing the philosophy underlying the words to situations which are relevant to their ideals. However, the subjectivity of justice leaves it, in the end, a moot point in eye of the beholder.

What the “ 8” – “ 9” Says • In Plato’s Republic, Socrates illustrates that justice and virtue are both ineffable and rendered subjective. This can be seen throughout history, especially in the governing ideology of Al. Quaida and the United States’ “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy.

The Need to Say Something Original • Justice is one of life’s great dilemmas – it seems to have a different definition from every side of an argument. The rich think graduated taxation is unjust, yet the poor are in full support. Hunters feel violated by gun control, yet concerned mothers wish for stricter laws. To be sure, there will never be a situation where justice is an idea that is fully agreed upon because justice is always a reflection of personal wants. Thus, true justice brings happiness to the greatest number of people, and true virtue is creating that justice.

Keep it Authentic in the Introduction Justice is not a virtue in and of itself; rather, virtues are the components of moral perfection. While justice is the distribution of emotional, social, and physical commodities based on the possession of virtue. Justice only becomes virtuous because it promotes other, higher virtues such as integrity, humility, or industry. This truth is revealed in business, society, actions, thoughts, and all spheres of humanity.

Keep it Authentic in the Introduction • Justice is subjective. While most people would look upon the act of stealing as unjust, those same people might defend the act if it was done to save someone’s life. Every robbery has its own circumstances just as every situation and conflict does in the human way of life. While unjust actions may be unjust standing alone, people may commit injustices for just reasons. With that, justice can be defined by the net regret felt by the action.

Carry the Weight of Your 1 st Premise & Have Authentic Proof • Justice cannot be defined by “good. ” The term good, the idea if some inherently positive action, is too malleable to apply to justice. Look at the automobile industry – it has created a system of consumption that is one of the primary polluters in the world. With global warming a constant threat of demise and extinction, it is easy to say that to bring down the automobile industry would be good and thus just. But is it good to destroy the jobs of millions of Americans? Who’s to say? There can never be any conclusion about what is good, because there are too interests at hand. Thu, justice cannot be based on “good. ”

Carry the Weight of Your Topic Sentences and Have Authentic Proof Justice must be based upon what brings happiness to the greatest number of people because it is the only measurable form of defining it. When examining the graduated income tax, you cannot say if it is good or not because there are many opinions on the matter. However, you can look at the facts – ultimately, the graduated income tax benefits more people than it hurts and is therefore just. It’s the only feasible way of deciding that. A revolution may or may not be good, but if it helps the most people, then it is the right thing to do. In turn, virtuosity marks any person that brings happiness to the most people. The revolutionary is virtuous if he benefits the greatest percent of the population. But if he is self-interested and brings no happiness to others, he is unjust and thus not virtuous. Justice is defined by the overall happiness created because it is the only measurable way of determining it.

Carry the Weight of the Topic Sentence & Have Authentic Proof This idea of justice has been practiced for centuries. The American government is a prefect example. The nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II were by no means good, for they killed thousands of Japanese civilians. However, they were absolutely just. By bombing Japan and killing many civilians, the United States ended a war that would have otherwise resulted in more deaths than the bombings themselves. It brought more happiness to more people, so in turn it was just. The men who put the plan into action and who flew the planes were completely virtuous in their actions because they acted in the overall interests of humans. Justice was served that day, and any day that the most people were helped.

To Do: Killer 1 st Premise & Specific Textual Support • As long as justice hinges on the binary of winners and losers, ideals will never be mutually exclusive (Example = War in Iraq). • The system of justice is corrupt (Example = Hamlet) • Those in power tend to disguise injustice as virtue (Example = Pontius Pilate) • The binary functioning of vice and virtue prevents historical events from being defined as either “just” or “unjust” (Example = Formation of Lutheranism) • Justice and virtue tend to cancel each other out due to the subjectivity of its definition (Example = Cane & Abel; King David & Bathsheba)