Books I and II of The Republic have contained nothing but unanswered questions and theories. Socrates has questioned the nature of justice? Is it necessary? Is it self-contained? What is NOT justice? Who is just? Book II is about creating a "perfect city". It is way too complex to even attempt-isn't that why God is God and we cannot completely understand His ways? He is the only One who could make a perfect civilization. It cannot be recreated or explained with logic.
I am also a bit flustered by Socrates' 2D people he has chosen for his city. Each person must have ONE occupation? In an "ideal" world, he says, if each person stays in their one art, then the city will be efficient, i.e. perfect. What I don't understand is how he could overlook the fact that each human being created has a complex makeup. We know that God created each of us unique, physically, mentally, emotionally. You cannot put people into a box like that, or expect each person to always act exactly the same way to every situation, every time, in any place, in any phase of life. Which is why this perfect city can never be achieved.
My question is, what kind of logic do we need to use then, in the perspective of a scriptural worldview? How should we respond to Socrates? What is the point of all this "if, then" when we have the scripture as our basis of knowledge and we know that God is still beyond our understanding?
I think for me personally I just had to displace myself from scripture. Now of course in reality we should view everything through our Christian Worldview. But if we want to understands the constant debating of the Greeks we have to remember that they didn't follow our scripture. Just like all others who are blinded by sin they are trying to found their view of truth in untrustworthy sources.
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