Socrates’ discussion of justice in Plato’s Republic considers how this cardinal virtue relates to the other cardinal virtues, and how these virtues relate to both the individual soul and the state in the same ways (cf. book 9). The four cardinal virtues are wisdom (prudence), courage (bravery), temperance (self-control), and justice. The first three relate to parts of the person: the soul, the high-spirited part, and the body. This division of the person can also be stated with wisdom in the head, courage in the chest, and self-control in the stomach and genital areas. Wisdom is the virtue to govern reason in the soul; courage is the virtue to govern one’s high-spirited part; and temperance is the virtue to govern the appetitive part, the body with its various desires. Justice involves the right rule within each part, and the right ordering of the parts. Various disorderings of the soul are possible when one part is not rightly ruled by virtue and when the parts of a person
Ideology and Power: Some Further Examples of Socialism’s Oppression of the Individual. Essay 7 of Justice in the State: Comparisons between Plato’s Republic and the West
The previous essay has pointed out that socialism involves collective values, the power of the state, and a disregard for individuals. Some today might equate socialism primarily with a national health care system, but it is not about how to run a good medical service for all citizens—one could debate that same goal from various understandings of government and the private sector. There is no more reason to understand socialism as a national health care system than there is to call a country socialist because it has a nationwide educational system. The essence of socialism lies in ideology and power. These essays have explored how Plato’s socialist republic articulated a view of social justice that was anything but just, and this should be a warning to those today who imagine that socialism is a kinder and more moral system of government. In this essay, three further examples of socialism’s oppression of the individual in the Republic will be noted. Plato discusses educat