Republic I – Vocabulary (HB 8.17)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts and terms introduced in Republic I (Book 1), focusing on definitions and how each term relates to justice, virtue, and social order.

Justice

Giving each person his or her due; fair behavior or treatment; justice promotes harmony/health in city and soul and cannot involve harming others.

Honesty

Telling the truth and dealing fairly with all.

Responsibility

Owning one's actions and giving care back to one’s communities; considering consequences; justice should not harm anyone.

Leadership

Positively engaging, skillfully serving, and strengthening one’s communities.

Wisdom (phronesis/sophia)

Power to judge rightly amid ambiguity (phronesis) and seeing the world as it is (sophia).

Integrity

Wholeness; moral and ethical consistency—showing the same face to everyone; related to justice as the soul’s health.

Virtue

A disposi­tion developed over time that helps a person care for, serve, and thrive.

Community

People pursuing a common mission in sustainable ways for the good of all; justice unifies communities, injustice splits them.

Ethics

Study and practice of the habits that lead to belonging and thriving; the dialogue is ethical in aim: asking why be just as well as what is just.

Eudaimonia (thriving)

Deep happiness from moving toward one’s telos across life; only justice yields genuine flourishing, though injustice is claimed by Thrasymachus to be more profitable.

Fairness

Treating others justly and in conformity with rules; foundational to early definitions of what is owed or repayment; refined to not harm anyone.

amour de soi

Love of self grounded in earned skill and genuine achievement; aligns with the craft standard that the good ruler aims at the benefit of the ruled, not personal gain.

amour-propre

Love of self based on how others view you; status-dependent esteem; highlights Thrasymachus’ stance that goodness is about winning and being seen as superior.

honor

Holding oneself to a high code of conduct and contributing to the community to deserve respect; true honor tracks real benefit to others, not appearances.

status

One’s standing or reputation within a community; frames justice as a possible status instrument when laws serve the stronger; Socrates seeks to detach justice from status goods.