Explain Plato's Concept Of Justice

The disciple/student of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle, Plato was born, it is estimated between 429 and 423 BCE. This ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher, who was born shortly after the commencement of the Pelopennesian War, is wildly acknowledged as an unparalleled influencer of Western thought via his philosophical works. Amongst his many works, Plato wrote of justice, which has still, to this day, stirred and maintained discussions amongst the grandest and the smallest minds. A definition of justice is not definitive when perusing the works of Plato, especially that of Republic. Instead, Plato’s conception of justice is dissected into two main analogies. The initial being an elucidation of political/societal justice, and the other being the derivation of individual justice. “Justice is harmony” (Maiman, n.d., para.1). Plato identifies the societal justice as a harmonious three part organizational structure. The society is stratified into the rulers/guardians who “have the right, and duty, to rule all because they possess the highest quality – rational wisdom” (Ebenstein & Ebenstein, 2000, p. 27) ; the fighters/auxiliaries who are commanded by the rulers, characterized by their courageousness and governs the third class; who are the producers (artisans, craftsmen, farmers) which, proposedly, is equivalent to or greater than four-fifths of the population. It is Plato’s assertion that via specialization, each member of the three stratums is meant to