Socrates And Polemarchus

Two theories of justice discussed between Socrates and Polemarchus are: justice can be defined as giving each man his proper due and human virtue is justice. In the text, Socrates rejects both of these arguments. In my response, I will analyze each definition, explain Socrates position on each theory, and offer my opinion on each theory and Socrates viewpoint of said theories.
To begin, Polemarchus’s view of justice was greatly influenced by his mentors’ standpoints. I feel it important to emphasize Polemarchus attempted to explain and defend arguments originating from someone else. In doing so, he lead Socrates to the theory Justice is giving a man his proper due. Although Socrates did not reject this theory, he paid careful attention to the use of “proper due”. Socrates insisted, the use of “proper due” implies one should be decent to his friends and malicious to his enemies; as it is customary to want what’s beneficial for friends and be malicious to enemies. To further explain his point, Socrates posed the question, “If someone held a gun for a friend, who wanted to retrieve

their gun while out of their right mind, would they be just, in not giving the gun to their friend? He and Polemarchus agreed, no one would be considered an unjust person for refusal of the gun at that time.
In other words, there are circumstances where giving a man his proper due may not be beneficial to him, and may cause more injustice than justice.

Moreover, Socrates suggests this theory on justice could not be accurate because if justice were simply being decent to friends and cruel to enemies, one would have to be cruel to an awful friend or decent to a beneficial enemy. To conclude, like Socrates, I agree this theory cannot be accurate. Socrates rejected this theory because if this theory were found to be true, justice would be biased and unable to be universally practiced. If justice was served based on the judge’s relationship with said person, it would divide people, incite conflict and be unfair to the just or seemingly just. Ultimately, Socrates concluded, to be unkind or malicious to anyone is not the actions of a just man and therefore cannot be a characteristic of

justice.
Next, I will discuss the theory Human virtue is justice. Socrates and Polemarchus arrived at this standpoint on justice while rejecting the previously discussed theory. Although human virtue can be a characteristic of justice, Socrates emphasize it can not be equal to justice because unlike justice, humans make errors. To add to this point, a person can seem virtuous or act virtuous for the sake of others and be an unjust person when they are alone or with familiar people. In my opinion, to say human virtue is justice is to infer justice can be a façade and/or manipulated into injustice. All in All, both theories were rejected. Though their dialog on justice, did not yield a definitive definition or conclusion to what justice is; understanding what justice is not was a great beginning.