Editing Justice (section)

==Platonic justice==
{{Main|The Republic (Plato)}}
Justice, according to [[Plato]], is about balance and harmony. It represents the right relationship between conflicting aspects within an individual or a community. He defines justice as everyone having and doing what they are responsible for or what belongs to them.<ref>{{Cite web |title=20th WCP: Plato's Concept Of Justice: An Analysis |url=https://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Anci/AnciBhan.htm#:~:text=Justice%20is,%20for%20Plato,%20at,health%20is%20to%20the%20body |access-date=24 March 2025 |website=bu.edu}}</ref> In other words, a just person is someone who contributes to society according to their unique abilities and receives what is proportionate to their contribution. They are in the right place, always striving to do their best, and reciprocating what they receive fairly and equitably. This applies both at the individual level and at the organizational and societal levels.<ref name=":1">Plato, ''Republic'' trans. Robin Waterfield (Oxford: [[Oxford University Press]], 1984).</ref>

To illustrate these ideas, Plato describes a person as having three parts: reason, spirit, and desire. These parallel the three parts of a city in his philosophy, which he describes through the metaphor of a chariot: it functions effectively when the charioteer, representative of reason, successfully controls the two horses, symbolizing spirit and desire.{{cn|date=February 2025}} Continuing on these themes, Plato theorizes that those who love wisdom, or [[Philosopher king|philosophers]], are the most ideal to govern because only they truly comprehend the nature of the good. Just like one would seek a doctor's expertise in matters of health rather than a farmer's, so should the city entrust its governance to someone knowledgeable about the good, rather than to politicians who might prioritize power over people's genuine needs. [[Socrates]] later used the parable of the ship to illustrate this point: the unjust city is like a ship in open ocean, crewed by a powerful but drunken captain (the common people), a group of untrustworthy advisors who try to manipulate the captain into giving them power over the ship's course (the politicians), and a [[navigator]] (the philosopher), the latter of whom being the only one who knows how to get the ship to port.<ref name=":1" /><!-- lead suggests information about Aristotle should be in this section -->