Murphy 15.docx

Justice & Injustice   Today:   Pop Quiz, A/F Plato - Selections from the Republic   Still to Come Justice as a concept (Plato, Kelsen, Aquinas, Hume) Justice and disability (Kittay) Justice and species boundaries (Nussbaum) Globalization and justice (Sen) Politics and economics (Rawls, Marx)   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   The Concept of Justice A quality of individuals? Just and unjust people Just and unjust actions A quality of communities? Just and unjust societies Just and unjust policies   "Other" Justice Criminal Justice System Police, courts, jails, etc... Economic Justice How resources are distributed across society Racial Justice Society's attempts to deal or not deal with long-standing racial issues (imbalance, prejudice) Justice and Gender Equal pay for equal work Environmental Justice Most unhealthy places to live are where poor people live   Injustice Not just a lack of justice, but also an emotional expression The absence of justice? The presence of something? Evil? Cruelty? Hatred? Insensitivity?   Plato (428 BCE - 348 BCE) "Plato is philosophy, and philosophy, Plato." Ralph Waldo Emerson   Platonic dialogue format: two aspects In Plato's view, philosophy is not an activity that one carries out in isolation, or by oneself. The search for truth is dialogical We won't find truth by ourselves Socrates questioning people Long journey of discovery through a process of question and answer Socrates: I know that I know nothing Conversation Community Plato vs. Descartes Dialogical Questioning "Socratic" method Constant questioning Can be tense Leads to anger, frustration, etc? as seen with Thrasymachus (complains that Socrates never gives his own answer to the question of justice)   Plato's Republic Book I Thrasymachus' two arguments I say that justice is nothing other than the advantage of the stronger. Those who reproach injustice do so because they are not doing it but suffering it. So, Socrates, injustice, if it is on a large enough scale, is stronger, freer, and more masterly than justice.   Book IV Socrates' view Doing one's own work, not meddling with what isn't one's own" Therefore, isn't it appropriate for the rational part to rule, since it is really wise and exercises foresight on behalf of the whole soul, and for the spirited part to obey it and be its ally? And these two? will govern the appetitive part, which is the largest part in each person's soul? The soul Reason (rational part) Courage (spirited part) Appetite (appetitive part) Justice is the proper arrangement of the soul Rational part rules over other parts   The just man He harmonizes the three parts of himself like three limiting notes in a musical scale - high, low and middle Injustice is disharmony in the soul When rational part is in command and the other parts submit to the rational part, we are just.