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Socrates and Polemarchos - Debate on Justice

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In Republic part I, Socrates objects to Polemarchos's definition of Justice, based on Socrates stated view that it is always unjust to harm, or to aim at harming, one's enemies. How is one to square this with Socrates' own claim that the Guardians are to be, like watchdogs, "gentle to their familiars and harsh toward strangers", not to mention with the fact that the techne of the Auxiliary class is to be "SOLDIERING" (which, of course, would seemingly involve the maiming and killing of enemies, at least under most common, popular constructs)?

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The solution provides advise and insight in tackling the debate between Socrates and Polemarchos on the topic of Justice (see above for full details of the task) as set out in Plato's 'The Republic'. References are listed for expansion. A word versionof the solution is attached.

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Polemarchus on Justice

In 'The Republic', among the dialectic exchanges that defined Plato's notion of justice is the exchange between the sophist Polemarchus and Socrates. Polemarchus believed that what s just is to return or give back what is due to each according to their actions. He furthered this by identifying social tendencies - to do just for friends and to do ill to enemies. Socrates believed that this was lacking, because for Socrates, if justice is reserved only for useless things, where just is supposed to ...

Solution provided by:
Xenia Rochelle Jones, MA, PhD (IP)
Education
  • MPhil/PhD (IP), Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
  • MA, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
  • Certificate, Geva Ulpan (via Universita Tel Aviv)
  • BA, University of the Philippines
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