Examines the resemblance between justice in the individual and justice in the city in Plato’s Republic.
It is clear that for Plato the parallel between the individual and the city was much more than a simple question of resemblance or a useful illustration or metaphor for his text. Rather, as this paper will argue, making the association between the two allowed him to not only justify the rule of his ideal city by philosopher kings, but also to illustrate the social and political power dynamics of his ideal city.