Justice over the centuries

What is “justice”? That is a question that has been asked for many centuries. It’s hard to get a real take on what it means when everyone around the world has such different views on what that one word means.

 For Socrates, at first, it’s all about finding out what others believe. He wants to know what they have to say on the subject of what justice is. He asks Glaucon to describe his views on the matter. We find out that Glaucon maintains the position on the common view that people aren’t just because that’s what they want to be, they’re just because all people want are the rewards that they’ll receive in return. Glaucon then proceeds to tell the story of a ring that makes whoever wears it turn invisible. He states that people will do whatever they want without there being consequences for their ill choices due to them not being able to be seen. To this day, that still holds true. Many people, because they cannot be seen, would do whatever they feel is necessary to make life better for themselves if they had the ring to turn them invisible. But this does not quite cover the whole debate on justice.

In class, we discussed three other characters that will come into play later. Cephalus says, “Justice amounts to paying people what they are owed and properly discharging one’s obligations.” Polemarchus says, “Justice is doing good to one’s friends and harm to one’s enemies.” Socrates objects to both of these. He believes that not only are both accounts an obscure definition of justice, but also obscure on morality. Both accounts are also only descriptions of justice in terms of actions.

Along with Cephalus and Polemarchus, Thrasymachus comes up with his own description of justice. His is a little bit closer to what many people feel today. He states, “Justice is the advantage of the strongest.” For example, in our society, we have people who make laws to govern our everyday life. However, they’re not making these laws to benefit us, the people, they’re making laws to benefit themselves. Many of these lawmakers are wealthy, they are seen as the strongest in our society because they make the rules that we are supposed to abide by. If these rules aren’t followed, consequences may ensue.

It’s difficult to relate to any of these views because we all have our own little ideas of how justice should be described. My own idea has bits and pieces of each of the four characters Socrates talks to. I believe that, yes, people will do what they want if it were possible for them to turn invisible and taking revenge on others, but our conscience would begin to eat away at us for the things we had done to others. At the time, we were at the advantage, we were the strongest, but after the fact, the harm we caused to the people we believed were owed what they got will seem petty and low. With so many definitions to take into account, everyone has their own way of deciding on what justice means. Maybe one day, we will begin to figure out what justice really means.