Justice

What can be called Justice is discussed in great detail in Platos Republic in ways ordinary persons cannot think of. The discourse starts off by stating that Justice is speaking the Truth and repaying debts. It is evaluated whether when one is approached by a friend who is in rage and asks for the return of his arms whether one should speak the Truth and return his arms or act the opposite. Of course, to a true friend one would act otherwise. In the case of an enemy one would not care for the wellbeing of the enemy and perhaps would return the arms. Therefore, Justice would mean being good to one`s friend and being bad to one`s enemy. However, at times, we are confused about who our real friends are and who our enemies are and therefore a Just man would actually be not doing Justice to his friend. This is the first scenario discussed. In the second scenario, a friend is equated with anyone who would be good to us, for example, a physician who helps us recover or a pilot who safely takes us across sea. An expert who swiftly and skillfully helps is defined as a friend. An expert is generally a person who has mastery over his art and also knows all the tricks of the trade. For example, a man expert in medicine who can save lives is also expert in knowing how to poison a person without being detected. An accountant expert in saving his clients money would also be an expert in defrauding his client. Therefore, a man apparently doing Justice may be doing the reverse. The third scenario discussed is from a very spiritual point of view. A musician by his music does not make anyone unmusical. Similarly, a Judge or a Just man cannot do Justice by punishing a person for in that case he ceases to be Just. In other words, by punishing a person by putting him in prison and taking away his freedom a Just man is not giving the accused his freedom rather taking away something from him.