Beliefs about the Absolute
Human life is based on beliefs about what is absolute. The debate of what was to be regarded absolute has existed since the early world civilizations, particularly in ancient Greece. Philosophy was a body of knowledge that sought the truth about all potential human thinking. Great philosophers of the day had to convince the masses of their findings concerning generalizations of truth and reality. The philosophers began to ponder the nature of truth (Nails, p.321). They got eager for information simply because they were uncertain about the general ideas of the moment. The quest for truth propelled the searching for knowledge to wash away the doubt that most of the self-sensitive citizens had towards the ruling class of the cities. Many of the wise men did not just keep quiet on the issues that affected the society, rather became skeptic and doubtful about the truths the people held. The great philosophers were pushed by the desire to know the concrete reality of what is absolute, and this could only be achieved through search for knowledge. Therefore, Socrates and Plato considers Justice as absolute while Augustine’s considers God as absolute.
Socrates and Absolute Justice
Socrates depicts absolute justice in the court when he defends himself at the court and criticizes the jury’s ideals of justice. He was known for his contemptuous attitude towards the conduct of the jury of the time and the notion of democracy. Socrates was not impressed by the ties of democracy to justice and became a critique of the court system about justice. He was put on trial for charges of corrupting the minds of the youth in his teaching of knowledge that was insightful to the truth. Plato’s dialogue, the Republic, Socrates character of pessimistic towards democracy is well portrayed in Book Six. Socrates, in a conversation with Adeimantus, likens the society to a ship in a bid to indicate the flaws of democracy. Socrates wants to show Adeimantus that, just the way he(Adeimantus) would wish that a person with sea knowledge should choose who to be in charge of the ship, the same way people should not hold the notion that any old person can fit in the jury that judges on who to rule the country. Socrates termed voting as a skill that citizens ought to be taught in so that leaders to be ejected into power through voting could be suitable to rule as per truths of a democratic state. Socrates believed that politics of Athens were dirty and intellectual democracy was lacking and hence a good person was not to indulge in the dirty game. Socrates knew that the failure of inclusion of the wisdom element in the political makeup of the state would lead to a situation of political demagoguery. He says that we should pay attention to people who know justice-the wise people. Political demagogues like the wealthy Alcibiades later pushed Athens into a disastrous military attack on other cities like Sicily. The wisdom and knowledge about the political situation of Athens that Socrates tried to inculcate in the minds of the youth is the one that won him a trial which the knowledge-poor jury branded him guilty and was sentenced to death. Socrates loved truth, and he would not bow down to the ordinary people’s arguments about justice, and that is why he feared nothing during his defensive speech at the trial (Pangle, p.83). Moreover, to console his soul after realizing that his quest for knowledge would lead to his death, he puts across in his arguments that death is just an act of releasing the soul from the body, and the freedom of the soul makes it join the pool of great souls of the departed wise men. Socrates explained that one who wants to know the truth hence becoming wise, should disown bodily pleasures as they hinder attempts to seek to understand the underlying reality of situations.
Plato and Absolute Justice
Plato also defends justice as absolute and affirms that absolute does not defend on democracy for it to exist. Just like his teacher Socrates, Plato believed in the absolute justice. His works were a continuation of his teacher’s quest for knowledge and truth about justice. Although Plato had his own arguments about truth and justice and what was absolute, he showed some influence by his teacher when he wrote the Republic, that covered an extended dialogue that Socrates had with his companions. During his dialogue with Adeimantus, Glaucon and Thrasymachus, Socrates responds in a way to show that every individual tends towards being just (Shorey, p.127). Thus, the Republic is an extension of the concept of justice that the philosophers always sought. However, David Sachs, in “A Fallacy in Plato’s Republic” argues that Socrates’ failed in his justice defense to provide a reason why the just person, whom he claimed to have a balanced soul would not refrain from unjust acts of theft, adultery or murder. Plato stood out to be the most influential and admirable during his era of political thinking. He managed to define philosophical terms in a broader perception than other philosophers of the time. In contrast with other philosophers, Plato treated justice free from democracy and argued that the latter was not a necessity for the former to prevail. He believed that democracy was built and rested upon the people who held power in the society and that not everybody in the society could make significant decisions. For the wellbeing of the people, justice was a fundamental or necessity, but not democracy and its politics. Re-arrangement of the society was a need for the incorporation of justice. Plato possibly wrote the Republic to pass across his agenda through the dialogues in the whole volume. He argued that justice and happiness were inseparable. Plato’s dialogues shed light that justice controls what man needs and prevents him from desiring other people’s things which may lead him to unjust behaviors. Plato was to say that democracy is not a necessity for justice. Democratic laws of the court are there to attend to the injustices but not directly for justice.
Augustine and Absolute God
However, St Augustine differs with Socrates and Plato and attests to that God is the absolute. Augustine became a skeptic for a while and the skepticism and doubt triggered his instance of searching for the truth. In the process met Plotinus who softened him to become a devoted Christian. Augustine’s confession marked his belief in the absolute, God, and the pursuit for acquiring knowledge to know the truth about God began. Augustine represented the first philosophy built on Christianity. He concurs with Plato when he agrees that we can never have knowledge of this world because the world is a world of change. However, as a Christian he did not believe in the world of forms; nothing can exist independent of God. The narration of his sinful youth and redemption through confessing presents to us the true picture of how a creature yearns to go back to its master, and for his arguments the master was God who cannot be compared to the ways of man. Augustine believed that God communicates the truth to man and that without Him man would be not knowledgeable. He believed that philosophy was built upon the Christian scriptures and that adhering to the doctrines of the church and observing the tenets of Christianity was the touchstone along which justice is assayed. Augustine’s notion of justice was entirely tied to Christianity (Augustine and Joseph, p.51). He believed that justice was merely love for the creator, God, and a just person would do only what the church doctrine considers just. In the Confessions, Augustine holds that every human being must always try to get back to the creator through confessing the injustices committed. St Augustine argues that the wicked cannot be just since they are doubtful and will never see God hence are not absolute (class notes 12/11/2017). The wicked have to seek forgiveness from God who offers absolute justice.
Quest for Knowledge and Truth
In conclusion, early philosophers always locked heads with the state governments and compact majority views towards truth. The philosophers knew that reality was ideational and that to seek for the perfect truth knowledge had to be sought. Justice was always the question of the day and those who tried to shed lights toward the reality of democracy, which for the most part of its operations hindered justice, were met with criticism from the governments and others like Socrates ended up being placed a death sentence on them. Philosopher after philosopher, there existed the quest for knowledge to substantiate the validity of the existing laws of democracy claimed by the early city-states of Greece such as Athens and Sparta (Kastely, p.106). The skepticism and doubt among the philosophers drove them to seek for truth and reality to establish the tenets of justice. Even though these early philosophers were met with rejection and mistreatment from government, they built up what is today enjoyed body of knowledge against which reference is made for justice to be determined.
Works Cited
Kastely, James L. The Rhetoric of Plato’s Republic: Democracy and the Philosophical Problem of Persuasion. University of Chicago Press, 2015.
Pangle, Lorraine Smith. Virtue is knowledge: the moral foundations of Socratic political philosophy. University of Chicago Press, 2014.
Augustine, Saint, and Joseph T. Kelley. Selections from Confessions and Other Essential Writings: Annotated and Explained. SkyLight Paths Publishing, 2010.
Shorey, Paul. The Republic, Vol. I: Books 1-5 (Loeb Classical Library No. 237). Harvard University Press; William Heinemann Ltd., 1937.
Nails, Debra. “The Trial and Death of Socrates.” A Companion To Greek And Roman Political Thought (2009): 321-338.
