In The Republic by Plato, it revolves around the unknown concept of justice and throughout the book, attempts to illustrate what is justice with the soul-state analogy. This analogy presents Plato’s definition on justice by method of debate through a conversation between individuals to eliminate inconclusive premises, known as the Socratic method.
Therefore, by assessing components of this analogy: myth of metals, tripartite of the human soul and different city-character pairs, it allows one to understand justice as a virtue for everyone, as an end to a means. The soul-state analogy is introduced in book two, however is developed in stages throughout the entire book. This analogy is created in reaction to Glaucon and Socrates’ debates on justice, where Glaucon proposes that justice is only good to appear just, which is presented with the thought experiment, Ring of Gyges.
The morals of the Ring of Gyges is the wearer of the ring is able to turn invisible at will and Glaucon raises that if a just or unjust person were to wear this ring, either person would act unjustly with the ring because individuals only act just, for survival’s sake: to live in a civil living arrangement and the fear of consequences of unjust actions (Plato 1992, 359c-360e).
However, Socrates does not agree with this, therefore initiating the soul-state analogy to disprove Glaucon’s point, by beginning to look at the city first to define justice, as Socrates claims, it is easier to evaluate and compare from a larger scale then to a smaller scale (368C-369b). Therefore, Socrates begins to develop the ideal city- Kalipolis, to illustrate justice as a virtue and not as a means to an end, proposed by Glaucon. As Socrates develops this ideal city, it presents the ongoing stages of development and later, the myth of metals is introduced in order to support his definition of justice, as a virtue.
The development of this city starts small but grows in order to find origins of the justice in the city. Socrates says this is the healthy city as it begins with the city of pigs, where the people live simple, only with the basic necessities (369a-373a). The second city is the city of specialization, which is filled with fever, as in contrast to the first city begins to have more desire than what is necessary. Which then leads this city to go into wars to gain more land, services and products that will feed their unnecessary desires (373a-374a).
So on, Socrates describes the education the guardians will have in great detail in books two to three. As a result of this, Socrates then introduces the myth of metals to harmonize the city as the last stage of development in the ideal city. The Myth of metals is created to bring efficiency, harmony, and to illustrate Socrates’ justice. There are two parts of this myth, firstly, everyone is from the same mother, and therefore everyone is related. Secondly, there are three types of metals in each person’s soul: bronze, silver or goal.
Each metal corresponds to a class: working, auxiliaries and rulers that each individual will belong to. However, each individual is equal regardless of their metal because each metal is tailored to their best natural abilities. As there are three distinctive classes, each is tailored to certain jobs and educations to allow each class to function best to its natural abilities (414d-415d). Therefore, with this myth it allows Glaucon and Socrates to theoretically analyze the city to find the virtues of a city: wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice.
Since the stage of the city has been established, it then allows one to find the virtues in this ideal city: wisdom, courage, temperance and justice. Wisdom can be found with the gold class, as it is associated with the ruler’s knowledge and understanding of what is best for the city (428d-e). Secondly, courage corresponds with the silver class because this class is taught to be fighters and can control their fear and angers, when rational to do so (429c-430c).
Thirdly, oderation in relation to an agreement that everyone understands and accepts the authority of classes (430d-432b), and lastly justice, leaving harmony as each class does their distinct functions, which is suited by their best nature (432e-433d). Therefore, since we have been able to establish what justice is in a city, we can then evaluate justice in an individual to further our understanding of Socrates’ justice. Only when the justice in the city is established, then one can find justice in the individual in order to understand Socrates’ justice. Socrates concentrates on the individual’s soul, not body (591b).
The soul is made up of three parts: appetite, reason and spirit (437c). The appetite part of the soul pertains to fulfilling pleasures and desires such as sex and luxuries, however, the reason may intervene on stopping these wants, as its function is to calculate what is best for the soul (439a-e). Thus lastly, the spirit pertains to feelings in anger, especially when reason fails to control it (441a-d). Socrates explains that the reason in the soul should dominate, in addition the spirit to follow and work in conjunction with reason and lastly the appetite to be checked by reason and spirit (441e-442c).
This example can be exemplified to show an unhealthy soul of being ruled by appetite rather than reason and spirit. For example of the poet, Socrates explains that poetry is bad for the soul as it allows individuals to become too emotional and therefore, affects their reasoning calculations to function in the most just way possible (602a-e). All in all, with justice identified in the city and soul, it allows one to understand how these two parallel each other in order understand Socrates’ idea of justice.
Justice is harmony between the three parts of the soul, same as in relation to the classes of the city: each part doing its distinct function equally. The state and the soul relate as gold class corresponds with the reason, silver with spirit and bronze with appetite. Therefore, to contribute to a greater understanding of his justice, we must examine with examples of unjust cities and individual types. Since the just city and individual is established, it allows one critique and evaluate the city-individual pairs to fully understand why it would be in the best interest to be just as an ends to means rather then unjust, means to end.
According to Socrates aristocracy is best with the philosopher-king (473d), and then going in a declining hierarchy of the ideal city diminishes to Timocracy and warriors (547e-548c), to oligarchy ruled by the rich (550a-551b), to democracy ruled by the poor (555b-556e) and lastly, the worst and most unjust is tranny and the tyrant (562a-e). Each individual-state pair is uniust in correspondence to how each pair does not function in co-relation to the virtues of the state and the three parts in the soul not working in harmony and how these pairs have deterred from what Socrates has illustrated as the ideal just state and soul.
To summarize, it is important to understand the strong emphasis Aristotle places on the how the state and soul must follow their functions, or else it will leave to injustice. This analogy is powerful and highlights the crucial steps required to take in order to gain justice. In addition, acknowledges that justice is not easily attainable. All in all, Socrates wants state or individual actions to act in virtue: as a justified purpose for the good in itself, than a means to the good.
