A paraphrase of the comparison of the city and the individual in The Republic

(NB: I have taken huge liberties with the text in these dialogues. They are very different from the actual texts themselves, but I have tried to outline some of the key arguments in the order in which they appear in the text and to maintain the sense of dialogue. My aim was to give you an introduction to the ideas discussed and to use those ideas as a catalyst for your own thoughts.)

Socrates: So what’s the best way of investigating the nature of justice, I wonder. It’s a very difficult question. The problem is that we’re like short-sighted people trying to read letters that are very far away. Perhaps the best thing to do would be to find some bigger or nearer versions of the letters first, and once we’ve got the hang of those, then we can move onto the versions that are more difficult to discern.

Glaucon: Ok but I’m not quite sure what we can use as the ‘bigger’ version of justice to investigate first.

Socrates: Well perhaps we could use a city-state. Justice is the same thing everywhere, so justice in a city-state must be the same as justice in an individual, no?

Glaucon: OK, go on.

Socrates: Well let’s begin by thinking about what a city is. A city exists because people can’t live on their own - we’re not self-sufficient, we need to live in groups to fulfil our basic needs. So let’s make a list of our basic needs that need to be fulfilled: Our first basic need is food, and this is fulfilled by farmers. Secondly, we need clothes, and this need is fulfilled by weavers. However, weavers can’t make shoes, so fourthly, we’ll need a shoemaker to protect our feet. We also need shelter, so we need carpenters. But carpenters need tools, so we need metal-smiths. And all of these trades require particular materials, so we’ll need merchants to buy the stuff and retailers to sell it.

Glaucon: Ok fine, but we’ve not found out anything about justice yet.

Socrates: Well all of these people need to work together, don’t they? In a perfect and healthy state, everyone will have and use just what they need. Life will be sustainable and everyone will be careful in their actions to make sure that poverty and war are avoided.

Glaucon: Pffft I don’t think much of that city. Where’s the fun? Where are the little luxuries and comforts that make life worth living? The wine and the sofas, the tables. We don’t need these things, but isn’t life worse without them? Your city is like a city of pigs!

Socrates: Hmm ok. You don’t like my healthy city. I can see that it’s not enough for you. Well, if you want more for our city, then we’ll have to be able to take stuff without paying for it, and that will a standing, professional army. And if we’re going to have an army, we’ll need some people to be in charge.

Glaucon: That seems right.

Socrates: And we shall have to think carefully about how these two new classes of people shall be educated!

There follows a long conversation about what kind of education the rulers of the city state should receive. One of the things that Socrates insists on is that the rules should be educated in the four cardinal virtues: Justice, Temperance, Courage, and Wisdom.

Glaucon: And after all this discussion, Socrates, how are we to learn what justice is?

Socrates: Well Glaucon, we have the four virtues, Wisdom, Courage, Temperance, and Justice. If we can identify the first three in the state, then Justice must be whatever is left, no?

Glaucon: OK Socrates.

Socrates: Well our ideal state can be said to be wise, can it not? And whilst the carpenter knowledgeable in woodwork, and the soldier in warfare, we wouldn’t call them wise. Instead, we should say that the wisdom of the state lies in its rulers, since it is their job to make the right decisions about what must be done.

Glaucon: That sounds sensible.

Socrates: And whilst each member of the state might be brave in their own way, it is the soldiers where courage can mainly be found. It is they that must be able to respond to their emotions correctly. They must know what should be feared and what should not be feared, when to care and when no to and so on.

Glaucon: Again, I agree.

Socrates: And Temperance must surely be found in all those who work in the state. A worker must know when they must indulge their appetites and when not to.

Glaucon: This seems a sensible analysis, Socrates - but what then is Justice?

Socrates: Ah can’t you see, Glaucon - justice is what is necessary for the city to work at all. Wisdom, Courage, and Temperance rely on Justice for their existence, since justice is the perfect order by which all natures and classes do their own business, the right person in the right place, the division and co-operation of all the citizens. Justice is doing one’s own business, and not being a busybody. If this harmony did not exist, then the rulers would not have the opportunity to be wise, nor the soldiers courageous, nor the workers temperate.

Glaucon: Fine Socrates, but at the start, you promised that this investigation into justice in the state would be a way for us to understand the idea of justice in an individual. How can we make the connection between the two?

Socrates: Well just as the state has three main classes, so has the individual three driving forces in their soul. The ruling class is the rational part of the city; the soldiers are the emotional part of the city; and the workers are the desiring part of the city. Similarly, in a person’s soul, they have a rational, emotional, and desiring force.

Glaucon: …And justice in the soul?

Socrates: Is when these three parts of the soul work in harmony…