Socrates (Plato), in The Republic, metaphorically defines justice as “harmony.” The reader following this metaphorical caricature consequently discovers justice to be quintessentially observable and definable on the macro and micro scales, i.e., in society and the individual. Plato, in his “Republic,” paints a dialectic picture of an ideal society (macro justice) wherein its members are only to perform functions at which they are proven astute. Censorship of the arts and restricted academics are social norms enforced by law. Children are produced for the sole purpose of sustaining the populace (children are also separated from their biological parents).
A 21st century American may, however, view Plato’s Republic as little more than a romanticized ant-farm void of tradition, symbol, and culture. In spite of the seeming and overarching picture of Plato’s causal despotism and leanings toward dictatorship, he goes on to define the culmination of it all (The Republic) as an authentically just realm. Personal justice (micro justice), on the other hand, is fused to Plato’s ideas concerning societal justice (i.e., personal justice is not based upon how well one is acclimatized to the society’s standards of justice). Plato’s theory of personal justice is reduced, therefore, to a gift of the state.
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