Justice in the soul and the city
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Question
Plato's definition of justice?
Answer
Each part doing its own proper job, in harmony, without barging into another part's role — inner order.
Question
Why look at a city to find justice in the soul?
Answer
Justice is easier to see 'written large' in a whole city than in a single, hard-to-read soul.
Question
The three classes of the just city?
Answer
Rulers (reason), guardians/auxiliaries (spirit), and producers (appetite).
Question
Rulers correspond to which part of the soul?
Answer
Reason — they decide for the whole because they know what's truly good.
Question
Producers correspond to which part?
Answer
Appetite — they make and supply the food, goods and trade the city needs.
Question
When is the city just?
Answer
When each class does its own job and doesn't seize another's — exactly like the just soul.
Question
One strength of the soul–city mirror?
Answer
It makes invisible inner justice easy to see, and explains why reason (the class that knows the good) should rule.
Question
One weakness of the soul–city mirror?
Answer
A soul and a city are very different, so it may slide from part to whole — and it can justify a rigid caste system.
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Topic 10.8 hub
The Republic, Books IV–IX — Plato
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