The idea of what justice is can be quite tedious and I do not believe that we have nailed it down yet as to what it actually is. The idea of justice is, like most things, a civilized construct or more precisely something that humans implemented as a result of civilized living. The idea that what occurs in the soul is natural or is our nature is a strong idea. More than that, the idea of what's natural could be the definition of soul. I'll argue that humans natural instincts are geared at survival and don't correlate with "justice" and its different attributes.
If anyone is in a burning building their natural instinct is to get out regardless of the fate of the poeple around them, but because of societal constructs that have been taught or observed the human uses courage (a supposed part of justice or virtue) to stay in the building and help others get out first. When a horse or dog is able to eat endlessly it will. I also would like to eat like this, but once again mother culture is whispering in my ear telling me, "dont eat all of that you glutton." Wisdom is also relevant because it could be that we are born with everything we need via instinct. Anything further is knowledge and just conflicts with animal (human) instinct. As a result justice may not be naturally occurring as what we think of as unjust may be mostly our animal instincts. Therefore, the question is could justice and its attributes be a part of the sould if we are not born with it? We danced around this question in class but the answer eludes me.
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"The idea of justice is, like most things, a civilized construct or more precisely something that humans implemented as a result of civilized living."
ReplyDeleteWhat exactly do you mean by "civilized construct"? You seem to be more accurate by calling it merely "something", because that's precisely what justice is basically in itself: a concept. And it certainly is not something that has been implemented by humans. It could be said, rather, that the concept arose as a result of humankind becoming civilized, but it still does not explain what it is practically or really even conceptually.
"The idea that what occurs in the soul is natural or is our nature is a strong idea. More than that, the idea of what's natural could be the definition of soul."
I need help understanding exactly what you mean here by "natural". It looks like you want to assert that the soul is the totality of a human being, the whole composition of the organs and their energies, rather than suggest that the soul is some substance that does not have physical properties. But I think Socrates is up to something much like the latter description.
I think Mr. Graves means that a society's conception of justice is always just that: a concept, an idea. It is something that changes because of culture and there is no inherent understanding of justice at birth. Though I agree with this partially, I think that there is still some basic understanding of what is right. Many have embellished the concept of justice wrongly in my opinion and have created definitions of justice that are as diverse and numerous as protestant denominations. However, I believe that their incorrect interpretation is still connected with mine at some level. What we have to do is find the common denominator and build from there.
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