Plato’s Analogy in the Republic

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Essay 1: Plato’s Analogy in the Republic
Plato’s analogy between the city and the individual found in the Republic
Plato’s Republic in the mid-nineteenth century had been one of the most read dialogues
(McPherran 94). In his book Plato discusses the analogy between the city and the individual. He
started off the discussion in an accepted method by stating that the unjust person cannot be better
off compared to a just person. He continues this discussion of his comparing similarly unjust
cities being worse off than cities which are just. The analogy compares the structural and values
of an individual to that of a city. In Plato’s philosophical theory, he lays stress on the idea of
justice. He states this analogy as he claims the same type of justice is to be applied to an
individual as that is applied to a city. Implications from his statement reveal that if a city’s
individuals are just then the city ought to become just. In his analogy he goes on to compare that
in case a city is just and possesses the virtues of courage and wisdom then the individuals within
the city will be courageous and wise as well. Justice in a city is predicted by him to be a heuristic
device which is implied to seek out for justice within individuals (Santas 42). He further
continues to justify his analogy stating that it is an individual’s interests to be just against being
unjust. Though the analogy might appear to be confusing yet it aims at explaining the virtue of
justice through such comparison.
Critically evaluation of the analogy

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The critical evaluation of the analogy between city and an individual appears to be rather
confusing. David Sachs argues that Plato’s work could not defend the concept justice (Ferrari
408). The city-individual analog classifies the working class being inferior to the guardian and
ruling class. It states that the inferior class needs to succumb to the authority of the later. Sach
argues that Plato’s work is a fallacy of irrelevance. The work in Republic aims at defending the
idea in one’s self interest to be just and to represent him as a balanced soul by acting justly to
another person. The analogy between psyche and city is that defending justice might keep a
person happy.
Conception of justice which Plato tries to support with the analogy
Plato tries to set out the idea of justice by his work in the Republic. The conception of
justice that Plato tries to support with the analogy is that a just person is more likely to be happy
similarly a just city is like to be happier (Purshouse 120). The idea of justice is related to people
doing good and staying away from theft, robbery, murder or adultery. Plato presents a person
with a balanced soul in performing socially just actions. A logical and casual connection is
established between psychically just and remaining socially just as well.

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Works Cited
Ferrari, G. R. F. "Williams and the City-Soul Analogy (Plato, Republic 435e and 544d)." Ancient
Philosophy 29.2 (2009): 407-413.
McPherran, Mark L., ed. Plato's' Republic': A Critical Guide. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Purshouse, Luke. Plato's Republic: a reader's guide. A&C Black, 2010.
Santas, Gerasimos. Understanding Plato's Republic. John Wiley & Sons, 2010.