Justice in Plato vs. Justice in Aristotle
             Usually when you hear that someone is a teacher you tend to believe that the ideas of his or her pupils would be somewhat similar to those in his or her teachings. Often enough the student decides to take what he or she learns from his teacher and expands or even opposes his teacher's ideas. Aristotle was a student of the often imitated, never paralleled, philosopher, Plato. Although under the tutelage of Plato for over nineteen years and teaching at the Platonic Academy, Aristotle had many different views in regards to justice in society. Plato felt that justice was harmony, while Aristotle felt that it was in the common interest or in other words: justice was a compromise. I will attempt to provide a deeper understanding of this dilemma.
             (Justice is harmony) One would tend to believe that peace, and good will among all individuals in a community would be the main ingredients necessary to encompass harmony, yet although at first a simple concept to conceive, the ultimate goal of achieving harmony (justice according to Plato) requires many different factors. These factors (or pillars) upon which justice in Plato is constructed include but are not limited to education, interdependence of a communities sub-units, philosophy, the separation of public and private life, truth, as well as no movement.
             In Plato's Republic, justice is defined in many different ways, none of which seem to keep Socrates content. Cephalus insisted that justice was telling the truth and paying one's debts. Polemarchus, Cephalus' son, maintained that justice was paying one's dues. Socrates refuted their argument by using a mad man as an example. He proved that if one man borrowed another man's knife and the owner of the knife went mad, it would not be just to return the knife to the rightful owner for the owner would be in possible danger of harming himself. Under other circumstances such as a situation...