HUMANS ARE ENDS
Plato: Justice, the Soul, and the Danger of Turning People into Functions
In The Republic, Plato asks what justice is. He is concerned not only with the order of the city, but also with the order of the soul.
His philosophy also warns us of a danger: when people are reduced to roles and functions, they may disappear as whole human beings.
This happens inside families. A child becomes a student. The student becomes a grade. The grade becomes a tool of parental pride.
Family civilization must resist this reduction. A person may have roles, but a person must never be reduced to roles. A child may study, but a child is not a performance machine.