Analysis of Plato´s Republic

Republic, perhaps Plato’s most famous work focusing on justice and its values, is also home to Socrates’ unique ideas and the challenges that he faces throughout his dialogues with other philosophers. Nevertheless, justice is not the only topic that Plato examines in his work. In the Republic, a simple discussion of the justice and the different characteristics of cities, escalates into a discussion about the souls of individuals. Socrates starts out by offering an agreement to the fact that since cities are made of individuals, their characteristics can also be found in individuals. From his writings, Plato exemplifies most of Socrates’ arguments towards the development of his own arguments. One very famous theory developed by Plato from the Republic is the Tripartite Theory of the Soul, which explains the argument that the soul a distinction of three different parts. In this famous theory, Plato divides the soul into three parts which he names: logical, appetitive, and spirited. According to Plato, all parts either have some form of desire or are influenced by desire. Socrates’ argument of the distinction is not very strong, consequently, at times fails to persuade his audience. Plato, in exchange, presents a wider enlightenment of the idea. He later attempts to uncover how the different parts of the soul work and their effects on each other.

The logical part of the soul, which is also known as the rational, seems like the weakest of all the parts of the soul. This part of the soul is responsible for the love of learning and for using knowledge of good and evil. Logical part of the soul is also the gateway to our decisions. Ironically, our logic should be the strongest essence of our soul, but instead it weakens us when our ...

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...es? To answer this question Socrates examines souls again, concluding that the rational is the wise who makes the decisions and is therefore found in rulers. Correspondingly, the spirited is the courageous who protects and is therefore found in soldiers and in those that seek to protect us. The appetitive is the moderate who controls desires, but can be found in any type of an individual. However, justice is independent of the souls, as it is covered among every soul. Justice presents the external actions of an individual, independent of the part of their soul. Justice regulates all parts of the soul, forcing them to work together for the final, most plausible conclusion. Socrates defines justice as health and wellbeing of the soul, and injustice as being diseased, ill, and wicked (444d). AS a result, acting just and unjust are only reflections of the inner self.