Why is Plato concerned about the difference between mere belief and true knowledge, particularly concerning the issues of justice?
Plato’s concern for this difference stems from his desire for the long term over the short. He feel’s as if Sophists use rhetoric to win the minds of their audience through persuasive arguments based on their own beliefs. Such a practice could lead a majority astray whereas focusing on what they know as true as to establish a broader understanding among the masses – or at least the aristocracy, for he did not condone the growth of the middle class. For him, the same argument can apply to justice, for he did not condone the use of beliefs to determine whether or not something was just, but based such a conclusion on true knowledge.