In Book I of The Republic, Socrates challenges several of his friends in a conversation which “prospects for justice.” Although I find the entire dialogue confusing and circumlocutory, I think that I might have a sense of what Socrates purpose is. It is obvious that Socrates’ intentions are to provoke stimulating thought as well as learn for himself what it is others think of as justice. However, it seems to me that he is also tempting the others to reflect upon their own opinions and definitions of justice in a manner which will allow them to acquire a deeper knowledge on the topic. This secondary purpose is not to raze the opinions of his companions, in an effort to prevail himself in the debate, but to proceed in a process of deduction to arrive a satisfactory definition.Socrates initiates the conversation by telling Cephalos, a very old man, that what he enjoys the most in his conversations is talking with old men because they have “traversed a long journey through life,” one which he himself will have to traverse. He engages in queries with the old men to understand what the journey will be like. Cephalos intrigued Socrates when he related “justice” to the transference from this world to the next. His statement of course gave Socrates the medium he needed to engage in this philosophical discussion.I think that the conversation starts out fairly simple, referring to a just man as one who pays back what is owed. But, Socrates’ method for resolving the question of justice seems to confuse the discussion and turn the meaning of the word backwards. His method throughout his entire dialogue is to break statements down piece-by-piece and word-by-word. He assimilates many examples to the topic at hand, which tends to twist the direction of the conversation. For example, Socrates and Polemarchos are discussing the definition of justice and Socrates poses a question: “…...
