Idealistic and Realistic View of Justice

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Introduction
Throughout human existence, there has always been a struggle between the idealistic views and the realistic views of justice. The idealistic person believes that everyone deserves justice; however, there have been times when people have been wrongfully convicted for a crime and spent years in prison. In the movie, The Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne understands the corruption of the justice system in Gotham City and creates a vigilante persona to bring justice to Gotham City. The Joker, the realist, realizes that Gotham City cannot be saved because he believes that the true nature of human beings is selfishness. In The Republic, Plato argues that power should be used to govern in the best interests of the entire community. Thrasymachus the realist, however, argued that success can be achieved by caring for the citizenry so that they can provide material wealth and power for the leader or leaders. Batman is the idealist because, by becoming a vigilante, he is considering the community’s best interests which are consistent to Plato’s philosophy (The Dark Knight). Batman believes that justice should be used to protect the weak from the manipulative. Joker is the realist because, by being a villain, he places his everyone else’s interests over others and considers them as the best for himself, which is consistent with Thrasymachus’ viewpoint (The Dark Knight). In this paper, I will discuss the similarities and differences between idealistic views of the Dark Knight and Plato and the realistic views of the Joker and Thrasymachus.
The similarity and differences between idealistic views of the Dark Knight and Plato
Both Batman and Plato share similar idealistic viewpoints regarding how power should be used for the common good...

... middle of paper ...

...The Joker became the most dangerous criminal in Gotham. In both The Dark Knight and Plato’s The Republic, the ideals and realistic beliefs were similar but the methods used to obtain those ideals were mildly different.

Works Cited

Cooper, John. Plato. Complete Works. ed. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company 1997. Print.
Dusty Hoesly and Nicholas D. Smith “Thrasymachus: Diagnosis and Treatment.” Journal of the History of Philosophy 33.1 (1995): 381-408 print.
Korab-Karpowicz, W. J. "Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.” Plato: Political Philosophy. N.p., 3 Oct. 2003. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.
The Dark Knight. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart. 2008. DVD.
T.D.J. Chappell. “The Virtues of Thrasymachus.” PHRONESIS: A journal for ancient philosophy 38.1 (1993): 1-17 print.
Plato. The Republic. Baltimore, MD: Penguin, 1955

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