Thursday, September 12, 2013
Why do we care?
Justice has long been a term bandied about in our political lives. Thrasymachus suggests that justice is what's to the advantage of the strong. If he's right, then why should the weak care about justice if it doesn't benefit them? Glaucon furthers the argument by implying that a person situated in a political system will immediately become unjust once he/she possesses power. The he argues that the appearance of justice is what is beneficial, not actually being just.
Socrates makes a move to defend justice as good for it's own sake, not because it benefits anyone. Through an analogy, he argues that justice of a political being origins from the stratification of a soul. When a soul moves to a level of complexity, it will have many different parts. For this soul to be harmonious, the different parts of the soul must be compelled by reason to do one thing that they are both good and happy at doing. Because harmony of the soul is a good thing and justice arises out of that harmony and promotes that harmony, therefore justice is good. We care about justice because, argues Socrates, it has a good origin and promotes the good of the soul. A political system that is just will mirror the just within the souls of its constituents.
Do you think a person in Memphis with a harmonious soul a la Socrates would be just when endowed with power would be just? Probably not. However, Socrates has made a smart move to avoid that objection. In a perfectly harmonious society like that of the Republic, a person is perfectly happy doing what he does and therefore there is no reason for appearing just or not-just. The philosopher kings are the only ones decided what promotes harmony what doesn't - they are the most powerful in the city, but their justice does not aim to serve their benefit.
It seems that Socrates is making a critique on the political systems prevalent in the city states. The only reason that people with the ring of Gyges will become unjust is that they are within an environment that prompt it. If Athens were a perfectly just republic, then the Gyges ring will lose its corrupting power.
In a non-just society, the weak care very much about justice because they have been habituated by the power-system believe that justice could serve their interest, while only the most powerful benefit from that justice. Socrates does not make this claim explicitly, but it seems to make sense as an answer to Glaucon in the context of the Republic.
Do you agree with my interpretation? Why do you think we should care about Justice? Do you think the unjust power-system of our society is what made you believe that you should care about Justice while it really only serves the benefits of the strong and powerful?
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It is an interesting angle on the socioeconomic power structure with a Marxist spin. I guess what I might continue the argument with is who are the weak and who are the strong. Here, I just assumed we were talking present day so politically strong and politically weak would fill the roles. The institution of politics does dictate what actions we consider justifiable, the laws. Those with money are usually the people with the time and financial stability to run for office, climb capital hill, and finally bang the gavel. So how can the laws benefit them? The majority of occupants on The Hill could be described as white, male, and wealthy. Below The Hill, we see a difference in pay for women and different races, different levels of employment, and most importantly, different percentages in jail. Coincidence? According to your argument, no. According to Marx, you are right, and the proletariat should march up The Hill and demand they tear down the institution of “false consciousness.” Let the weak ignore the law and stop benefitting the bourgeois. When this happens though, will there still not be justice? Or will justice now be dictated by the new strong? Are the new strong going to be as agreeable to the new weak? Will the new weak still include much of the old weak and will their new laws be harsher and more repressive than the old ones? No matter what there will be a justice system. No matter what there will be hierarchy of recognized strength. I say the politically weak should care about justice even if it is benefitting the politically strong because the alternative option may be having to cower under the justice of the physically strong. A moral dilemma is a choice between two wrongs or two rights. If you are politically weak, which wrong do you choose from?
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