MAJOR INTERPRETATIONS OF PLATONIC JUSTICE

Year 2018, Volume: 20 Issue: 1, 55 - 80, 28.06.2018

Enes Eryılmaz

https://doi.org/10.26468/trakyasobed.437628

Abstract

Günümüzde “Adalet nedir?” sorusu ihmal
edilmektedir. Çağdaş filozoflar, adaletin yapısını anlamadan adaleti
gerçekleştirmeye çalışmaktadır.  Fakat
Platon, Devlet’inde oldukça kapsamlı bir adalet tanımı vermeye
çalışmıştır. İlk bakışta tanımın değeri anlaşılamayabilir; fakat dikkatlice
incelendiğinde onun kapsamlı karakteristikleri görülecektir. Bu amaçla,
Platon’un Devlet’indeki adaletin başlıca okumaları gösterilecektir.
Platoncu adalet yorumları ana hatlarıyla üç gurupta sınıflandırılabilir. İlk
grup Platon’un formel adalet tanımına odaklanır ve Platoncu adaleti iyi-işleyiş
olarak anlamaktadır. Gerasimos Santas bu işlevselci yorumu sistematik
olarak savunmaktadır. İkinci olarak, Gregory Vlastos işlevselci okumayı
eleştirir ve adalet tanımının ikinci formülasyonuna kulak verir: “birisinin
kendisinin olana sahip olması ve [kendine düşeni] yapması” (433e-434a). Son
olarak, sıra dışı ancak elverişli olan bir adalet yorumu verilecektir:
Platoncu adaletin Aristotelesçi okuması. Kenneth Dorter, Platoncu adaleti
Aristotelesçi bir çerçeve içinden yorumlamaktadır. Dorter, Platon’un adalet
anlayışına Nikomakhos’a Etik’in merceğinden bakmaktadır. Dorter,
Aristotelesçi orta yol öğretisinin Platoncu adalet anlayışı ile uyumlu olduğunu
iddia eder; böylece, Platon için adalet ifratla tefrit arasındaki orta
yoldur. Makalede, bu üç farklı yorum değerlendirilecek ve Vlastos’un
okumasının en doğru ve meşru okuma olduğu öne sürülecektir.

Keywords

Platon, Aristoteles, Adalet Tanımı, Devlet, etik, siyaset, şehir-devleti

MAJOR INTERPRETATIONS OF PLATONIC JUSTICE

Abstract

The question, “What is justice?” is ignored in our time. Contemporary
philosophers seek to realize justice without understanding the nature of
justice. In the Republic, however,
Plato attempted to give a definition of justice which is comprehensive enough.
At first sight, the definition may not be appreciated; but if it is examined
with caution, its far-reaching characteristics would be seen. To this end, main
readings of justice will be shown in Plato’s Republic. Interpretations of Platonic justice can mainly be
classified in three groups. The first group focuses on Plato’s formal
definition of justice and understands Platonic justice as well-functioning.
Gerasimos Santas systematically defends this functionalist interpretation. Secondly,
Gregory Vlastos criticizes the functionalist reading and pays attention to the
second formulation of the definition of justice: “the having and doing of one’s
own” (433e-434a). Finally, an unusual but favorable interpretation of
justice would be given: an Aristotelian reading of Platonic justice. Kenneth
Dorter interprets Platonic justice within an Aristotelian framework. Dorter
observes Plato’s conception of justice through the lens of Nicomachean Ethics. Dorter asserts that the Aristotelian doctrine
of the mean is in accordance with Platonic justice; so, for Plato, justice is the
mean between excess and deficiency. In this paper, these three different
kinds of interpretations would be assessed and proposed Vlastos’ reading as the
most accurate and legitimate.

Keywords

Plato, Aristotle, Definition of Justice, the Republic, ethics, politics, the polis

References

• Annas, Julia, An Introduction to Plato’s Republic, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1981.
• Arendt, Hannah, The Human Condition, Second Edition, University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1958.
• Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Translated and Edited by Terence Irwin, Hackett Publishing, Indianapolis 1999.
• Aristotle, The Politics and The Constitution of Athens, Edited by Stephen Everson, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1996.
• Arnauld, Antoine and Nicole, Pierre, Logic or the Art of Thinking, Translated and Edited by Jill Vance Buroker, 5th ed., Cambridge University Press, New York 1996.
• Benardete, Seth, The Being of the Beautiful: Plato’s Theaetetus, Sophist, and Statesman, University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1984.
• Bloom, Allan, The Republic of Plato, Second Edition, Basic Books, New York 1991.
• Dorter, Kenneth, “Philosopher-Rulers: How Contemplation Becomes Action,” Ancient Philosophy, Number: 21/2, 2001, pp. 335-356.
• Guthrie, W. K. C., A History of Greek Philosophy, Volume 4: Plato, the Man and His Dialogues: Earlier Period, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1975.
• Havelock, Eric A., The Greek Concept of Justice: from its Shadow in Homer to its Substance in Plato, Harvard University Press, Cambridge 1978.
• Kelley, David. The Art of Reasoning, 4th ed., W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York and London 2014.
• MacIntyre, Alasdair, Whose Justice? Which Rationality?, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame 1988.
• Parry, Richard D., Plato’s Craft of Justice, State University of New York Press, Albany 1996.
• Santas, Gerasimos, Understanding Plato’s Republic, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford 2010.
• Sheppard, D.J., Plato’s Republic, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2009.
• Tracy, Theodore James, Physiological Theory and the Doctrine of the Mean in Plato and Aristotle, Loyola University Press, Chicago 1969.
• Vlastos, Gregory, “Justice and Happiness in the Republic,” in Platonic Studies, Princeton University Press, Princeton 1973, pp. 111-139.
• Vlastos, Gregory, “The Theory of Social Justice in the Polis in Plato’s Republic,” in Volume 2 of Studies in Greek Philosophy, Edited by Daniel W. Graham, Princeton University Press, Princeton 1995, pp. 69-103.
• Vlastos, Gregory, “The Rights of Persons in Plato’s Conception of the Foundations of Justice,” in Volume 2 of Studies in Greek Philosophy, Edited by Daniel W. Graham, Princeton University Press, Princeton 1995, pp. 104-125.