摘要

本文以《理想國》當中格勞孔兄弟和蘇格拉底的辯論，開展出柏拉圖他對正義本身的探討。同時筆者也從柏拉圖探討正義的脈絡當中發現，一個正義的城邦或是個人靈魂應當也會是自制的。滿足自制的條件是建立在統治者與被統治者都同意由誰來統治，但如此的統治關係無論在城邦或是在靈魂的實現都有執行上的困難。筆者論證，這也意味柏拉圖所說的正義並非僅只是考量城邦的德性或者是靈魂的德性，而是更深刻地探討靈魂內在的關係，並且為了說明這樣的關係，柏拉圖開展他的靈魂三分論做為假設，企圖說明以「城邦─靈魂」作為進路，所尋找到的正義。其次，柏拉圖利用「城邦─靈魂」作為進路所尋找的正義或許並非是正義本身，但是卻相似於正義本身。筆者則希望能藉此說明，正因為是相似於正義本身，因而可以從《理想國》第八卷，柏拉圖批評民主政體時看見，儘管不正義的政體和不正義的靈魂並非柏拉圖所接受的人生類型，但柏拉圖仍對此不正義類型的城邦和人生型態有所期待，企圖以反面批評的方式來肯定民主型的人也有可能有正義的人生，儘管可能性是微乎其微。

關鍵字：柏拉圖、理想國、城邦─靈魂、靈魂三分、自制、正義、民主政體

Abstract

Based on the debate between Glaucon and Socrates from The Republic, the purpose of this paper will be to present justice by itself from Plato’s argument. From Plato’s argument on justice, I also discover that self-discipline should also be included in a just city or soul.One of the conditions to satisfy self-discipline is that the ruler and the ruled both agree upon who shall be in the ruling position.However, such relations are impractical within the city or the soul.I argue that Plato’s justice not only considers the virtues that exist in the city or the soul, but probes deeper into the relationship within the soul. In order to expand this relation, Plato developed his hypothesis, the tripartite soul, to explain his findings of justice by using the “City and Soul analogy” approach.In addition, Plato’s findings of justice by exploiting the “City and Soul analogy” approach perhaps was not justice itself, but instead something very similar to justice itself.I hope to explain that because the similarity to justice itself, even though an unjust form of government and unjust souls are not accepted by Plato when he criticized the democratic government in Book VIII of The Republic, he still hoped to seek good cause insuch unjust entities.Plato attempts to acknowledge that a democratic being may also have a just life, despite the slim possibility, by pointing out the cons of democracy.

Key Words: Plato, The Republic, City and Soul analogy, the tripartite soul, self-discipline, justice, democracy