section_path: Harmony and the early Greeks
section_name: Harmony and the early Greeks
paragraph_text: Harmony and the early Greeks
  
  Justice, according to Plato, is about balance and harmony. It represents the right relationship between conflicting aspects within an individual or a community. He defines justice as everyone having and doing what they are responsible for or what belongs to them. In other words, a just person is someone who contributes to society according to their unique abilities and receives what is proportionate to their contribution. They are in the right place, always striving to do their best, and reciprocating what they receive in a fair and equitable manner. This applies both at the individual level and at the organizational and societal levels.
  
  An example of a Justice according to Plato's character "Socrates" would be a person is born to be a cobbler (their nature), who has the virtue (temperance) of the economic class (social position), employed as a cobbler (occupation), and doing their work well (expertise) – thus benefitting the state's economy for all others' happiness which has the Form of "Good". Contrariwise, an example of Injustice would be a person whose nature is that of a cobbler (their nature), who lacks the virtue (wisdom) needed from the ruling class (social position), and is employed as head of state (occupation), doing that work poorly (expertise) – thus ruining the government, military, and economy which provide for the happiness of all citizens which fits within the Form of "Bad".
  
  To illustrate these ideas, Plato describes a person's as having three parts: reason, spirit, and desire. These parallel the three parts of a city in his philosophy, which he describes through the metaphor of a chariot: it functions effectively when the charioteer, representative of reason, successfully controls the two horses, symbolizing spirit and desire. Continuing on these themes, Plato theorizes that those who love wisdom, or philosophers, are the most ideal to govern because only they truly comprehend the nature of the good. Just like one would seek a doctor's expertise in matters of health rather than a farmer's, so should the city entrust its governance to someone knowledgeable about the good, rather than to politicians who might prioritize power over people's genuine needs. Socrates later used the parable of the ship to illustrate this point: the unjust city is like a ship in open ocean, crewed by a powerful but drunken captain (the common people), a group of untrustworthy advisors who try to manipulate the captain into giving them power over the ship's course (the politicians), and a navigator (the philosopher), the latter of whom being the only one who knows how to get the ship to port.