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Plato's notion of Justice and how it's self-contradicting


             For centuries, thinkers and philosophers have struggled with the most intriguing questions of life and epistemology, arriving at the roots and definitions of all knowledge and attempting to make sense of them. The Greek philosopher Plato lies among the most important and creative thinkers of the world, setting forth most of the crucial problems and concepts of Western philosophy, psychology, politics and logic. His influence and finding have remained profound from ancient to modern times, especially when it comes to the philosophy and politics. The world today is ruled by politics; wars and conflicts, both civil and international, are essentially a consequence of different governments and leading groups having distinct ideas of how to run and govern a group, be it a city, commune, or country. These different ideas can and do lead to conflicts and contradictions between various parties and leaders, and it all comes down to one crucial yet abstract concept: the idea of justice. The meaning and implications of justice constitute perhaps one of the greatest problems of ancient and modern philosophy, while at the same time signifies the key to preventing the downfall of a ruler and/or an empire/city. In his book The Republic , through dialogues with Socrates that he transcribes, Plato defines justice as doing what is socially most beneficial or what one does best, minding one's own business and not meddling in other affairs. Once this claim is made and justice is defined, Plato proceeds to build an Ideal City, or Just City, whose building and structuring techniques can themselves be considered injust. Thinking of the greater good for the greater number of people, Plato builds his City in such a way that he contradicts his own principles and ideas, namely his notion of Justice. Plato's definition of justice as minding one's own business is a systematic error lacking consistency; however Plato is himself conscious of this discrepancy, he just sees it as a necessary evil in order to achieve a greater good.


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