assignment: Pick an example that could represent justice
For my example of Justice I chose the increasing production of opium in Afghanistan. Over the past year or two opium production in Afghanistan has increased significantly. Most of the opium production and trafficking is under the control of the Taliban terrorist group. Though this increase in opium production and its association with the Taliban might seem bad to me, an American, it is good news for those people who help in the drug production process. Therefore, for these workers, this news is justifiable as it helps them make more money at their jobs as illegal drug dealers.
However, according to Plato's Socrates, this news does not bring justice. For Plato's Socrates, anything that causes harm to anyone is not justice. This is shown in the Republic when the question arises of whether or not to return a borrowed weapon to a madman or psychopath. The answer is, of course, that it is not 'justice' to give this person a weapon because they could cause harm with it. If this same idea is applied to the opium issue then this increase in production of opium, and opium production in general is not justified because it inflicts harm onto other people. Though some may make money off its production, others become addicted and loose control of their lives through the power opium (heroin).
It is also interesting to consider how few things would be considered justice if, according to Plato's Socrates, justice is the absence of harm. In other words, many things can be considered to harm other people or things like writing on a piece of paper (this causes harm to trees as more are cut down). Is this definition of Justice too strict or did Plato imply something different about the true definition of justice?
Afghan Opium cultivation article
Excellent post, Eli! I think that a clear-cut example of justice is incredibly hard to find in the world, mainly because most pieces of information become widely distorted by the mass media. The only way to absolutely capture an example of justice would be to demonstrate it personally, lending credence to the idea that justice is doing the right thing when no one is looking. Keep in mind, if Plato had defined justice too specifically, he would run the risk of contradicting his previous assertions, but if he was too broad, then no greater philosophy would be revealed. Great post!
ReplyDeleteYour paper/tree example made me think of my mom complaining about taxes. One night at dinner, she told me to stop using so much paper in school because it comes out of her tax contributions. I think she made some major (flawed) assumptions: 1) I can remember everything my teachers say, 2) If I suddenly stopped using stuff, she will no longer have to pay taxes. Anyway, it made me laugh. Don't worry about trees, Eli. Have you been to Michigan?
ReplyDeleteHaha that's funny Min. Even if wasting a ton of paper isn't justifiable I still do it all the time. And no I actually haven't been to Michigan, why?
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