How Plato can Strengthen Our Understanding on Religion

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       In my studies of ancient philosophy I came across a passage from Plato’s The Republic that struck me. It was in a discussion as to whether it would be better to live an unjust life and have people think you were just, or to be sincerely just. Then Glaucon, a man that the protagonist Socrates is arguing/ teaching, stated, “They will say the just man … will be scourged, tortured, and imprisoned, his eyes will be put out, and after enduring every humiliation he will be crucified.”[1] This sort of thinking would make it seem that being unjust pays much more dividends than doing the right thing. My thoughts then made me think of Christ and of all the suffering that he was put through, and then to other martyrs in Bible and elsewhere. They appear to be like the just man, or in the case of Christ, the full embodiment of the just man. I think this in itself proves that being just is better than being unjust. To the just person, the appeals of being unjust, are seen as unsavory. He rebukes these vices, not because he thinks it would please God or so he could avoid hell, but because it is right to do so. 
Image result for plato and aristotle
 The School of Athens by Raphael 
Pleasing God and avoiding hell follow doing right, but if you are doing right merely to help yourself, then you are like the unjust man. Still, the ultimate rewards that are given by doing just (altruism, pleasing God, and a happy afterlife), outweigh the trials and tribulations that we go through in our lifetime. Plato’s answer to this questions is also one that goes well with Christian theology, in that he argues that yes, being unjust might bring pleasures to your body, but you would permanently damage your soul. This shows that there are influences outside of our religion that can strengthen our beliefs while at the same time helping us obtain more knowledge. 



[1] Plato, The Republic, trans. Desmond Lee (New York: Penguin Books, 1987), 45.

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