consists in a harmony of these three, each part performing its own 

 function. Now this definition, though it turns out to be for So- 

 crates a true definition of justice, is as yet only possibly correct. 

 It must yet be verified and so, Socrates brings before his eager 

 listeners various examples of just men, the man that is honest, 

 he who is free of sacrileges, thefts, treacheries, he who is faithful in 

 the performance of his oaths, he who is careful of his parents, who 

 shows piety toward the gods; in all such, justice is exemplified, and 

 the common characteristic of all these, as it is revealed by analys's, 

 is that principle of division of labour among the qualities of the soul 

 whereby each performs its own function not intermeddling with that 

 of the other parts. The rational, appetitive and spirited parts of 

 the soul are, in all these cases, in complete harmony, and this is, for 

 Plato, justice in the individual, just as harmony among the different 

 classes meant justice in the state. So then the definition, resulting, 

 as a dream or a hope, or, to use the more modern word, an hypo- 

 thesis, from the long literary part of the work is now by this brief 

 analytic procedure shown to be correct. To quote the words of 

 Socrates, spoken immediately after the above analysis has been 

 concluded, "then our dream has been realized; and the suspicion 

 which we entertained at the beginning of our work of construction 

 that some divine power must have conducted us to a primary form 

 of justice has now been verified." 1 



In considering these examples of the so-called Socratic Induc- 

 tion and Definition, the first thing that impresses one is the attempt 

 which Socrates made to rid his students and himself of presupposi- 

 tions. These presuppositions were presented generally in the form 

 of current definitions which the keen intellect of Socrates was able 

 to show were not in accord with actual facts. Then the attempt 

 was made to ascertain the true nature of the matter under consider- 

 ation. This is done generally by summoning up before the investi- 

 gators various concrete examples of the subject, the common 

 characteristic or characteristics are then ascertained by comparison, 

 the differences being eliminated, and a statement of these common 

 characteristics constitutes the definition which is sought. Some- 

 times the definition so obtained is then applied to some particular 

 situation as in the case of the hipparch and his query concerning 

 obedience. 



1 The Republic of Plato. P. 136. Jowett's trans. 



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