use their skills and knowledge to serve humanity. Plato argued that it is worse to commit an injustice than to suffer one since immoral behaviour is the symptom of an unhealthy soul. It is also worse for a person who commits an injustice to go unpunished than to be punished, because punishment helps cure this most serious of all diseases. This may be viewed as the basis of our law system where those committing crimes are punished for their actions as opposed to being set free.Plato believed there are four virtues: wisdom, courage, temperance (or self-control) and justice. The most important of these is wisdom, which is knowledge of what is truly good. People who have wisdom and, as a result, know what is truly good will tend to do what is right. These people will act in their own true interest and be in harmony with themselves. This harmony is the basis of all justice. In Plato’s view, people who have justice will tend to have other virtues as well. However, Plato did not try to tell us, in a neat and easy formula, what is truly good.Plato argued that the soul is divided into three parts: the rational part (intellect) the spirited part (will) and appetite (desire). Plato argued that the soul has these parts because they occasionally conflict with each other. For example, a person desires something but this desire is fought with the power of the will. He believed that “in a properly functioning soul, the intellect--the highest part--should control the appetite--the lowest part--with the aid of the will.” Thus, for Plato, the basic problem of ethics is a problem of knowledge. If a person knows that moral virtue leads to happiness, he or she naturally acts virtuously. He argues that often people know what is morally right, but face their greatest problem in willing to do it. According to Plato, good is an essential element of reality. Evil does not exist in itself but is, rather, an imperfect reflection of the real, ...
