ABSTRACT
At the beginning of Plato’s Republic Socrates talks with an old man, Cephalus, who is taking stock of the long life he has lived and pondering what might be in store for him when he dies. He is filled with “doubt, surmises, and alarms and begins to reckon up,” to see if he has ever treated anyone unjustly and, if he has, to make sure that he has made proper reparation and atonement (ibid.: 330e-331b). His anxious curiosity is at once practical and philosophical. Cephalus does not want to be punished for whatever injustices he may have committed; and he desires the happiness which comes from self-respect and moral integrity. Socrates then asks Cephalus what he believes justice to be.
