Essay about Justice in Platos Republic and Hobbes...

One of the main concepts in both Platos Republic and Hobbes Leviathan is justice. For Plato, the goal of his Republic is to discover what justice is and to demonstrate that it is better than injustice. Plato does this by explaining justice in two different ways: through a city or polis and through an individual human beings soul. He uses justice in a city to reveal justice in an individual. For Hobbes, the term justice is used to explain the relationship between morality and self-interest. Hobbes explains justice in relation to obligations and self-preservation. This essay will analyze justice specifically in relation to the statement ? The fool hath said in his heart, there is no such thing as justice? Looking at Hobbes? reply†¦show more content†¦In this first part of the response to the fool, Hobbes claims that in a state of nature, a covenant is beneficial if both people involved comply but dangerous if either does not comply. Hobbes makes this clear in Chapter XIV by claiming that one person cannot count on another to act rationally and that it is not safe for the first party to follow through for risk of irrational non-cooperation by the second party. However, it seems as though Hobbes is also hinting that reason or self-interest could foster a breach of covenant because if one person could gain by violating his covenant then he would. A breach of covenant is what Hobbes defines as an injustice. This would be in agreement with the fool ?s statement that ?to make or not make covenants, keep or not keep, covenants were not against reason, when it conduced to one?s benefit. However, Hobbes? second statement in reply to the fool appears contradicts his first. In his second statement, he asserts that ?when a man doth a thing, which notwithstanding any thingShow MoreRelatedThe Between Plato And Plato s The Republic And Hobbes Leviathan1324 Words   |  6 PagesHow does a â€Å"just† society operate? 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