Abstract
This chapter explicates many of the words of Plato’s Socrates on the problem of distributive justice. One of the main points of this chapter is to demonstrate how the Socratic Anti-Mouthpiece Interpretation can and ought to function when it interprets the words placed in Socrates’ mouth by Plato. One of the leading contemporary philosophers of Plato, Richard Kraut , argues that Plato has a theory of distributive justice. However, while this chapter will argue that there is no theory of distributive justice found in the words of Plato’s Socrates, there are philosophically interesting concepts and arguments which are articulated and may be useful to contemporary moral, legal, social and political philosophers.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Furthermore, Irwin ’s unfounded remarks run afoul of Joel Feinberg ’s arguments against their being even a mere prima facie moral obligation to obey the law. (Feinberg 1992: Chapter 6).
References
Corlett, J. Angelo. 2014. Responsibility and punishment. 4th ed. Dordrecht: Springer.
Davis, Michael. 1992. To make the punishment fit the crime. Totowa: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Feinberg, Joel. 1980. Rights, justice, and the bounds of liberty. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
———. 1992. Freedom and fulfillment. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Irwin, Terence. 1986. Socratic inquiry and politics. Ethics 96: 400–415.
Keyt, David. 2008. Plato on justice. Philosophical Inquiry 30: 37–53.
Kraut, Richard. 1992. The defense of justice in Plato’s Republic. In The Cambridge companion to Plato, ed. Richard Kraut, 311–337. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
———. 2003. Justice in Plato and Aristotle: Withdrawal versus engagement. In Plato and Aristotle’s ethics, ed. R. Heinaman, 153–167. London: Ashgate.
Price, A.W. 2008. Reasoning about justice in Plato’s Republic. Philosophical Inquiry 30: 25–35.
Rawls, John. 1999. The law of peoples. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Rowe, Christopher. 2003. Reply to Richard Kraut. In Plato and Aristotle’s ethics, ed. R. Heinaman, 168–176. London: Ashgate.
Ryberg, Jesper. 2004. The ethics of proportionate punishment. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Corlett, J.A. (2018). Socrates and Distributive Justice. In: Interpreting Plato Socratically. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77320-9_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77320-9_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-77319-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-77320-9
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)