Republic: the state justice and the individual
Introduction
In book II, Plato at the time of Socrates to answer the question of what justice is, creates a city. His thought is based on the fact that there are two types of political justice: justice in the State and justice in the individual. However, it assumes that the search for justice in a macro model as a state is easier than in an individual and after understanding justice in a state you can ask if there is a similarity between this macro model with our main model: the individual. Thus, Socrates begins to create a fair city from scratch in which the need for specialization is observed.
Developing
It is based on the fact that each man has to have an adequate role naturally for him in a state and should not end up any other business so that the city works very effectively, since if each one does a job and not a hundred jobs at the same time. Second, he tries to classify the necessary elements for a fair state according to their priorities: food, housing and clothing. Thus, he creates a city in which there are only producers that produce what is necessary to live and call it "a healthy city". But, both Plato and we know that to have justice in a state.
We do not only need basic and necessary elements, but we also need something beyond that so that citizens live in a city both "healthy" and fair. Well, in addition to the specialties of the producers, other specialties such as someone who can protect the city is needed. For this reason, Plato puts the idea of educating a series of people who after having received the necessary education will be the city’s guardians who only deal with this trade: protect the State. In our macro model, the State, as the soul of each individual.
We also see a division into three main parts. Those who govern, the rational considered as philosophers, similar to the rational part of the soul, who are guardians similar to the irascible part of the soul who protect from the State and for that they need passions and finally those who take care of preparing the basic needs of The city that are artisans, similar to the appetitive part. Undoubted.
Therefore, Plato considers that education is necessary for the guardians (and also those who govern). Guardians and philosophers receive an education both mentally and physically mainly music and physical education. Mainly, one of Plato’s objectives is to control emotions and passions and that is why he considers that music and physical education are two education necessary to establish that character in his guardians. Although some instruments such as the flute were rejected by Plato.
But he considers that music gives the Guardians simplicity and is essential to educate them at a psychological or mental level. Second, gymnastics serves to educate and control the body because a person who wants to defend and protect the city also to control his body from passions and basic needs at both physical and mental level so gymnastics arrives through the body to the soul and control. Without a doubt, after having read those three books, we can realize a contrast between the perception of a suitable state for Plato.
With our current perception that is a state with democracy. We, with our vision of democracy, consider that all human beings have the same rights because we are all equal. But if we look in the right state that Plato has built, we see that there has to be a superiority of skills so that in the first place to be able to receive education and later among the Guardians there must also be that existence so that a group, which are the rational , can receive higher education. So, according to Plato.
Justice is obtained from adequacy. Education in its state is considered as a tool that guarantees justice because if we imagine its status, education serves to distinguish the abilities and skills or rather, you can determine the most developed part of each soul in each one and thus then allows them to determine the role that each one will have in society. If each one has a role adopted to the most developed part of it then society will work in the best way because if we consider that those classes of society.
conclusion
The parts of the soul then our soul is working perfectly in an adequate way and that is why the body that functions as a machine according to what the soul sends it, will also work in an adequate way. Thus, in the first place, we see that here the common good is more important than the individual good, since it is very complex to achieve the individual good in a fair state. Finally, we can conclude that education is the basis of having justice and adaptation in a state because it determines the roll that each can have in a society and allows a society to work very effectively.
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