What Is A Just Society? Essay

1. Compare and contrast Plato’s and Aristotle’s answers to these questions; How do we become good? Alternatively, just? What is a just society?
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Introduction
Aristotle and Plato were the most influential philosophers of their era. Both philosophers tried to explain what it means to be good or just and what a just society comprises. As a result, their concept and ideas have great similarities because of their teacher-student relationship. Consequently, both Aristotle and Plato viewed justice as the unifying factor that leads to harmonious interactions between people and groups within a society. Nevertheless, Aristotle used money and balance to make his approach more practical. On the other hand, Plato used more of metaphysics to define his ideal form of justice while invoking its form of good. Based on the above factors, this paper seeks to compare and contrast the concept of good and just society as described by Aristotle and Plato.
How do we become good or just?
Plato indicated that understanding what is good or just was equal to doing something or acting in a good way. In other words, knowing good automatically leads a person in doing the right thing. Therefore, although good is not known in itself, the idea of good is the ultimate knowledge that people require to do valuable and just things. For instance, beauty, truth, and equality are derived understanding the concept of good. However, Plato’s identification of good is too general. As a result, Aristotle criticizes Plato’s concept of good by arguing that it does not apply to the real world.
According to Aristotle, Plato’s idea of good is irrelevant, thus cannot be applied to human ethics. As a result, he argues that understanding what is good is not adequate for an individual to claim he/she is right or just. As a result, an individual has to practice well before pronouncing he/she is good. Furthermore, Aristotle identifies good/just as a personal virtue that is freely exercised. However, he notes that this virtue is changeable with regards to the situation a person finds himself in. Therefore, the meaning of good may vary with the environment.
From a theoretical point of view, Plato seems idealistic than Aristotle. For instance, just like any other concept, Plato acknowledges that good as an idea has a universal form that is acceptable. However, unlike Aristotle, Plato’s concept of good cannot be practically exercised by individuals. It is for this reason that Aristotle declines to acknowledge this universal form of understanding the concepts. As a result, he proposes that for any idea or concept to be fully understood, it must be studied individually.
Consequently, using Plato’s concept, human beings can not say they are right or just because Plato did not assign the goodness to any object in the world. However, through The Republic, Plato acknowledged the shortcomings in his good/just approach. Hence, he proposed that his concept should be adopted as a hypothesis since it is an elusive concept.
What is a just society?
From a philosophical point of view, the term justice offers a reflection of how members of a society share burdens and benefits. Indivi...