Greendyk 1

Jacob Greendyk

Reesor PHIL 1305

27 September 2019

722 words

Long Essay One: Justice and the Theory of Forms

Within Plato’s The Republic, the notion of the “ideal city” is one that is talked about and

thought about extensively. With the idea of true justice at the core of the ideal city’s conception,

we are presented with Kallipolis(K), a Greek city-state that is designed to allow for true justice

to survive and flourish. In direct contrast to Kallipolis is the idea of another Greek city-state,

Thrasymachia(T), which is created with a tyrannically-minded military group(the “junta”) at the

head of the city-state. Over the course of this essay, I will dive into the differences between these

two conceptual cities’ notions of justice and how a possible correspondence between the two on

the aforementioned topic of justice might go while also relating Plato’s theory of forms to the

discussion.

Within the Greek city T, justice is viewed through a Thrasymachan lens. As defined by

Thrasymachus himself, justice is based upon relative strength and power- literally the “advantage

of the stronger.” This view of justice is one that is contextually based and allows for whomever

is the stronger to define justice through their own advantage. When presented with the factual

argument that justice-and along with it, morals and standards of right and wrong- differs across

any given entity(or in this case, city-state) or society, Thrasymachus’ view of his definition of

justice as the “one, true” definition significantly impacts his response the argument stated above.

His counterargument would likely revolve around his definition of justice as the most valid and
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truthful, as it gives him a position as the stronger and more superior entity-therefore creating the

“advantage of the superior” he talks about when defining justice. This view and belief about

justice also creates and sustains a hubris and perceived superiority based on the idea that only

those who understand the true meaning of justice could possibly enact that belief, and therefore

those select few would be superior to those who do not. Thrasymachus would in turn likely

attribute the difference in moral values and standards to the relative inferiority of said different

times and places. The Greek city P condemns T’s view of justice, but as one would assume, the

junta believe that P holds no position from which to condemn T’s social and political policies.

This position and argument is directly tied to the previous discussion of the differing realities of

justice and standards across time and place. Because of the junta’s self-image of superiority and

intrinsic veracity(based in their view of justice), the idea of a city-state that is perceived as

inferior condemning T is to the junta clearly nonsensical as evidenced by their power and

position as inherently right in moral standards and “just” values.

In Kallipolis, (P) however, Plato’s Theory of Forms is accepted by the citizens and

employed as a means of understanding the surrounding world. The Theory of Forms(ToF) is

Plato’s claim that there are actually two domains of reality- the physical, in which all that we can

see in our world resides, and the forms. The domain of forms is populated by “concepts,” all of

which are the perfect form of their given physical representations. These concepts are the same

ones that pop into a person’s head and provide both a definition and a reference point when they

see, for example, a chair. Because of P’s belief in the ToF, P views their condemnation of T as

sensical and correct. This stems from the use of concepts and forms in the ToF-because P

believes that all concepts are inherently perfect, T’s definition of the concept of justice is

undoubtedly flawed and incorrect. When a citizen of P or any other individual who believes in
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the ToF is confronted with the question, “why do standards of right and wrong change across

societies over time,” the assumed response is unsurprisingly rooted in the same belief that makes

them a target of the question. In all likelihood, said responder would cite the idea that all

physical objects are made in the image of the concept that provides them definition, and that

along with physical objects, concepts such as justice can be interpreted by whomever the

beholder is. Through this extension of the ToF logical assumption, an explanation can be offered

as to why different societies hold the word “justice” to mean such different things.

Citations

Plato. "The Republic, by Plato." Trans. Benjamin Jowett. Project Gutenberg - free

ebooks. Project Gutenberg, 27 Aug. 2008. Web. 24 Nov. 2012. .