IDEAL PRAVEDNOSTI MARKA TULIJA CICERONA
MARCUS TULIUS CICERO’S IDEAL OF JUSTICE

Summary/Abstract: The backbone of this article is the notion of justice in the philosophy of Marcus Tullius Cicero. Although he discusses it in other works, he explains it most systematically in the third book of De re Publica. The book itself is not fully preserved. It is modeled on Plato’s Republic and therefore hides valuable philosophical material based on ancient authorities. The article also briefly compares Plato’s work Politeia and some of Aristotle’s reflections on justice. Following the example of Plato, after writing Republic, he created the work Laws in which he deals with the problem of justice and fairness within the law. In addition to the latter two works, I will analyze the moralphilosophical discussion of On the ends of good and evil in this article. I will present the way Cicero understands justice, its connection to divine origin and nature, and the difference between civil and natural law. For Cicero, humans are an instrument of higher wisdom and the good of the state is more important than the good of the individual. By listening and making the maximum effort to follow the natural law it is possible to be righteous. Although more goods, lands, or honors are gained through injustice, bigger is the loss as well. The main argument against injustice is that it provides unrest, causes discord that destroys communities and relationships, and disrupts the state which points to an inner urge for justice. Justice is a kind of cornerstone of natural law, a law that comes from a higher power and is given to people to maintain good social order. Cicero advocates the idea of universal morality, common to all people. He puts justice on the pedestal of virtue, attributing state creating features to it. I will interpret the writing of Republic and Laws as the author’s last attempt to save the Roman Republic. A linguistic analysis of the terms will begiven in the necessary places.

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