Interpretive Questions
What does it mean for a person to be "just"?
Socrates says (p. 243) that there are three kinds of good: (1) things we desire for their own sake, ( (2) things we desire both for their own sake and because of what comes of them, (3) things we desire only because of what comes of them. Is this a useful construct in talking about justice? In which category does justice belong?
Why does Plato have Glaucon and Adeimantus believe it is better to be just than unjust before Socrates begins is argument. Isn't Socrates trying to persuade them to his view and away from theirs (p. 244)?
Does Socrates believe that a man who is unjust yet self-controlled, like Glaucon's perfectly unjust man, could actually exist? (pp. 247-248, 268-9)
Can one, according to Socrates, be just in a society that is not properly ordered?
Do the guardians act from altruism or self-interest? (p. 259-260)
Is Plato correct in ordering both the individual and society according to the reasonable, spirited, and appetitive parts of the soul?
Evaluative Questions
Should only a small group of wise and just men rule society?
Are some people cut out to debate amongst themselves and govern, and others to do manual labor?
Is it better to be just but perceived as injust, or to be injust and perceived virtuous?
Simon Blackburn has written, "Our future may well depend on how profoundly we respond to the 'Republic.'" Based on what you've read, what do you think of this statement?
For Textual Analysis
Pages 245 to 247, starting "They say that doing injustice is naturally good, and suffering injustice naturally bad" to "So much for that."
Pages 264 to 266, "So we won't be irrational" to "and the many do so quite late."
Pages 267 to 269, "Then we must remember that, for each of us too, the one within whom each of the parts minds its own business will be just and mind his own business" to the end of the selection.
