Plato and Rawls: Justice in Individual or Society?

The conception of justice in Plato’s Republic is an abstract concept that Socrates by using midwifery method strives to create it. In fact، although Plato''s talk about justice starts from the external perspective، but، his main intention is investigation of all internal structure of human soul and then of social classes and thereby، to disclosure the nature of justice. For Rawls، in contrast، the realities of society and the economic and social conditions of current societies are more important. Rawls’ view on justice is less psychological than Plato''s one. In his two books، “A Theory of Justice” and “Justice as Fairness”، he investigates the nature of justice with regard to the economic and social realities of societies. In this article، on the one hand، we compare the advantages of Rawls'' concept of “Justice as Fairness” with Plato''s concept of justice، and on the other hand، we will investigate if Rawls، like Plato، did tripartite analysis of justice، or it (the tripartite analysis of justice) can be caused by his view of Justice?