Book IV of Republic opens with Adeimantus questioning Socrates about how happy the guardians could be in their position of society. There are a lot of freedoms that they miss out on, like owning private property, taking vacations, and other practices that most people consider enriching.
Socrates responds by telling Adeimantus that the goal of his ideal hierarchy is to not allow one class to feel happier than the other, but to promote the overall happiness of everyone in the city. To present anyone with a sort of happiness that takes them away from themselves and their specialty is unjust.
Socrates discusses various other topics related to the guardians' lifestyle. He proclaims that there will be no money in the city so as to prevent wealth and poverty. Adeimantus points out that a city without money would not be able to defend itself in war. Socrates reminds Adeimantus that the city would have the best warriors and that neighboring cities would rally to defend them if the spoils of war were left to them.
Socrates also imposes a limit on the size of the city, warning that a city that is to large would not be governed well. Guardians should also defend their education above all else and share all of their possessions, including wives and children. Additionally, the city would not need laws as it is as just as can be. Should any points of policy arise, the guardians are well-versed enough in what justice is to decide on them.
From here, Socrates deems the city complete. The only thing left to do is to be sure the city has the four sought-after virtues, those being wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice. Wisdom is found first, within the guardians because of their knowledge of running the city. The auxiliaries provide the courage as the warrior class. Moderation and justice are found in many parts of the city. Moderation is found in agreement of who should rule the city, and justice is found in every citizen doing the job they are specialized in. Now that justice has been found in the city, justice must now be found in the individual.
Similar to the discovery of civic justice, individual justice depends on the harmony between its parts. These parts consist of three aspects of the soul, in a concept that has been called the "tripartite soul". The three aspects are reason, spirit, and appetite. The rational part requires truth, the spirit part requires honor, and the appetitive part requires all other physical necessities (food, water, sex, etc.). These three aspects correspond to the three classes in the city. The reason corresponds with the rulers, the spirit is in the auxiliaries, and the appetite is in the producing class.
Balanced relations are necessary among these parts both in the individual and in the city. In a just person, the rational part rules over the spirit and appetite. However, any soul can be primarily one aspect. A soul sated by truth and ruled by reason are likely to be rulers, and so on.
At this point, Socrates has achieved his goal of identifying justice in the city and the individual. In this time, Socrates has departed from our conventional understandings of justice as a set of actions. Rather, it is the consequence of a well-controlled soul. The just person seeks truth and wisdom rather than lust, greed, or honor. Finally, Socrates asserts that justice amounts to the health of the soul. An unhealthy soul is an unjust soul. This also answers the question of whether or not justice is desirable in and of itself.
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