h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

An interesting overview, i thought i might help attain clarity with some comments:

Justice:
The term justice, in the conventional sense, has heavy legal connotations that are not entirely useful in the context of The Republic. The Greek word that Plato uses is Dikaiosunē, which in Greek is used as a term to describe moral goodness. Dikaiosunē is a broad term encapsulating not only ethical actions but also the moral characteristics’ of an individual. In seeking justice, Socrates is not attempting to define what actions are performed by the just person, for example the sharing of scant goods, because the performance of such tasks can be performed with both just and unjust motives; such actions are facile. Instead, Socrates is looking to find what it is that makes a person or a state morally good, hence motivating them to perform actions regarded as just. To be precise, Socrates is not looking for the external effects or consequences of justice, but the way that justice manifests itself within an entity.

Moral Education of Guardians:
Special emphasis was put on carefully censored music and poetry. This may seem odd to people of today, but poetry was the main source of moral education in ancient Greece. It was their alternative to holy scriptures or a Bible etc.

Women:
There is still a healthy debate as to whether or not Plato believed in equality of the sexes. Certainly he grants them equal access to the top jobs, but he does so begrudgingly at best. Also, women are elsewhere in the book treated as inferior, or as a sexual gift to reward brave auxhiliaries. A student of philosophy would to well to ask whether Socrates accepts women because of their potential, for eugenic reasons or simply because he can't think of a logical way out of it!

I hope these snippets help any budding students grapple with the text.

Yours,

Discus.