Being A Just Man

The question asked is using Plato’s theory of human nature, knowledge and political order explain and evaluate the answer to this question: Why is being just good for me?

Before I can answer the question posed I have to answer a sub question what is being just even mean. To us in modern times being a just person means if I hit a parked car I leave my insurance and contact information or I see a person who is in need of something and I help them well if someone’s watching you. In my opinion all being just means today is nothing more than doing the right thing when a camera is pointed in your direction, when someone is watching you, when you can benefit from it or you can tweet or post it on Facebook. I assume being just in Plato’s time was really just being rich, affluent and powerful. The text

Temperance or self-control is the ability to resist temptation or to be the master of one’s self and

4. Justice is simply a man should concern himself with what belongs to him. If you are to be a just person by Plato’s standards you must have all of these virtues. These virtues are only the beginning of being considered a just person. In chapter 13 Plato talks about another important part of being a just person the three parts of a just soul. “since the qualities of a community are those of the component individuals, we may expect to find three corresponding elements in the individual soul. All three will be present in every soul; but the structure of society is based on the fact that they are developed to different degrees in different types of character .”(129)

The three parts of the soul are reason, appetites and the spirited element. The reason is what’s known as the super ego. Knowing what you should and ought to to do. The next part is appetite or Replenishing at need, not being a glutton. The final part of the soul is the spirited element or the force behind your soul. In order to have a just soul these parts must work together and reason has to be the