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Plato's Concept Of Justice In The Contemporary World

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Plato ends The Republic on a surprising note. Having defined justice and established it as the greatest good, he banishes poets from his city. Poets, he claims, appeal to the basest part of the soul by imitating unjust inclinations. By encouraging us to indulge ignoble emotions in sympathy with the characters we hear about, poetry encourages us to indulge these emotions in life. Poetry, in sum, makes us unjust. In closing, Plato relates the myth of Er, which describes the trajectory of a soul after death. Just souls are rewarded for one thousand years, while unjust ones are punished for the same amount of time. Each soul then must choose its next life. PLATO’S CONCEPT OF JUSTICE IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD Plato’s tripartite division of the society is still applicable in the contemporary political setup. In the present day world where most of the countries are democratic in nature it becomes essential that the decisions taken by the ruling class is complied with for the proper functioning of the society. The ruling class in the contemporary world would mean the elected representatives of the government. The legislature would mean the ruling class, the warrior class would comprise of the military, the executive and the judiciary as they ensure that the rules and legislations formed by the legislature is implemented properly. The general populace would refer to the auxiliaries who must comply with the ruling and military class to ensure societal harmony. The concept of

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