What Is Justice? What makes all lives equal?
Happiness comes from a kind heart and a sense of justice, this view is generally agreed among the early Greeks. What is true justice? In Plato’s Republic, book II-a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon (Plato’s brother) on “What is justice?” Glaucon, as the antagonist, argues that justice is defined by those in power in order to benefit themselves (this explains why humans exclude other animals from moral duty). Socrates disagrees; he firmly believes that a just person would never harm others. He also thinks that being just is itself an end, not as means to achieve personal interest. A just person reflects a well-ordered soul, the embodiment of the three cardinal virtues: Temperance, wisdom and courage. The desire to have power, in politics and religion, is the cause of unjust treatment to others. Indeed, we have been paying a heavy price by insisting on a partial and unjust moral view. At the end, the winner is the real loser. The real cure for our illnesses is essentially a spiritua
