The debate on morality emanates from Thrasymachus, who argues that justice is based on might. In this case, he says that people obey rules and regulations just because they fear the people in authority (Alethes, 2010, p. 90). Most of the people in power use their powers to make rules, which to them they never obey. The rules are ever imposed on the weak, who are mostly the poor people in the society. The firm, in this case, makes laws based on their self-interests. For instance, people in authority may pass a law that will help in safeguarding their wealth. In such instances, they will only have their interest protected while the poor will have to adhere to the law established. When adhering to these rules, an individual is said to be morally …show more content…
Also, what if the people never get to obey the rules. However, the essential idea is that laws are made in the interests of the people in authority, and the lower citizens have to follow as a way of being moral (Barker, 2012, p.87). Morality in the society plays a pivotal role in ensuring that people get to have better ways of operations (Alethes, 2010, p. 128). Morality in the society helps people live well. In this context, people can coexist well and help each other. Also, morality in the society is an essential thing in ensuring that people get to have peace. Peace in a standard setup makes it easier for …show more content…
He argues that a person who is just, in that he or she follows all the rules presented will end up suffering. He or she will be beaten, tormented and will do nothing as they fear being incarcerated. Also, Thrasymachus has it that being unjust benefits but he does not focus on the effects that this has on the soul (Santas, 2010, p. 187). It is exceptional to concentrate on the physical but going deeper into the inner soul, there comes a difference. Glaucon and Thrasymachus differ in these aspects, but their differences give Socrates a standing point on these issues. He has different opinions in regards to the arguments presented. Thrasymachus dwells much on being unjust while Glaucon is rooted in the values of obeying the laws though he puts limitations. The two have viewpoints that differ in one way, but their similarities are numerous which appear to be contrary to Socrates' assertions. However, they presented challenges to Socrates to have opinions on as they
From Thrasymachus point of view I don’t see how he could believe that it’s the right thing to commit injustice whenever given the chance. By saying that Thrasymachus is basically saying that justice is to the advantage of rulers and injustice is to the advantage to the subjects. This is something I do not agree
The passage written by Plato goes in to great detail of how Socrates defends his position and how Glaucon defends his position as well but then leaves the reader to formulate his own opinion. With both Socrates’ position and as well as Glaucons, it is clear to see that Glaucon has the more rational reasoning within the debate of who’s happier, the just or unjust person. In Plato’s writing, The Republic, Glaucon challenge Socrates to describe justice and to give reasoning to why acting justly should be believed to be in anyone's self-interest. Glaucon claims that all goods can be distributed into three classes:
Socrates views on Justice and Injustice In Plato 's The Republic, he sets out to inform the readers the theories of Socrates based on the topic of justice. He explains of what Socrates believes to be justice and why should we be just. This philosopher points out that it is better to suffer injustice then to do injustice. However, others disagree with Socrates.
Even today, the importance of law, order and stability are important to run a well functional governement. Without these factors, government will fall into anarchy and anarchy will lead to the loss of civility and decline of
Socrates believes that justice is the best life to live, but Glaucon is not satisfied by this answer and instead creates an improved defense of Thrasymachus’ argument that life of injustice is better than living a life of justice. Glaucon argues that people are just because it is convenient, it is a title that people have been taught to be, however, it is much easier to be unjust than just. Justice is set up like a competition in which the result is merely a compromise of the best and worst of a group of individuals. What constitutes something as just or not lies in the consequence. Justice is merely a system which is instrumentally valuable.
He believed that justice was decided based on the interests of those with power. Rulers and governments would only make rules and laws that would benefit them and there was no justice except in favour of power. Again, the strong had complete control over what was considered right and wrong. Those in power would only introduce laws that would further their own agendas and those who dared to violate those laws were harshly punished in the name of justice. Thrasymachus clashed with Socrates in terms of ideology about justice.
Every society develops, struggles to find and seeks solutions that will be best for society. What are the best laws, political style and what should be considered right and wrong and good or bad. Science says that for every action there is a reaction. Essentially, this means that there are consequences for all actions and choices, which calls for great consideration in regards to those acts being right or wrong, good or evil and or even worthwhile. Unfortunately, there is no universally accepted means by which attain these social goals that need to be achieved.
The argument begins when Thrasymachus first states that, “justice is nothing other than what is advantageous for the stronger” (pg. 15). Socrates questions what Thrasymachus means by “the stronger” and forces Thrasymachus to give an explanation. In response to this, Thrasymachus says that the stronger refers to the ruling political party or leader. Similarly, he says, “each type of rule makes laws that are advantageous for itself” (pg. 15). By saying this, Thrasymachus defines justice as what is advantageous for rulers and that rulers declare
Certain individuals who hold power in any given society are justified to use their power to construct a society that best serves to deliver the good life to the people.
“If people be led by laws…they will try to avoid punishment, but have no sense of shame” but “if they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of shame and moreover will become good”. This meant that having laws and punishments would have no effective impact on the morals of the citizens, he believed that virtue, however, would have a positive impact as it would instill good morals in the citizens and make them feel shame meaning that they may not repeat the same act in the future and become good. Moreover, once virtue begins to impact some citizens and instill good morals in them then there would a positive bias towards conformity as other people after seeing their family or friends would also want to have good morals and thus, be impact by
He argues the fact that most people are “good” in only a few areas of their life, but fail to carry it through the entire way of their life. Thrasymachus also adds that most people only follow the law because they are afraid of the consequences or because they are ignorant. “Injustice is the opposite, it rules those simpleminded-for that is what they really are-just people, and the ones it rules do what is advantageous for the other who is stronger; and they make the one they serve happy, but they do not make themselves the least bit happy.” (pg 21 c) I believe that at this point in the argument, Thrasymachus was actually presenting more sound theory.
Thrasymachus believes justice is the good of another-- doing what is of advantage to the more powerful. This is a revisionary definition because this is a perversion of the word justice as it is typically associated with morality by his peers. Justice is not defined by laws the more powerful have written, but is defined by what is advantageous to the more powerful as in the example of the eulogy therefore excluding obedience as Socrates assumes he means. He offers an implicit conception of where everyone must work towards the good of the most powerful. By defining this as justice there is no need for exercising self advancing interests in order to act just.
One of the potentially faulty arguments Socrates uses to ponder Thrasymachus’ definition of justice involves considering injustice within a single person. In other words, this means thinking about conflict within an individual’s “soul”. In his treatment of Thrasymachus’ position that
For example, the more of do not murder, helps society maintain order. If everyone was murdering and raping each other, society would be unable to function properly. If there were no social norms, there would be ultimately be chaos and it would be hard to know how to socially interact with each
I believe that perhaps the paramount importance of ethics and moral growth comes from the fact that morality is an essential element of the existence and survival of society and it is a fundamental component of society being and character. There is not any society that remains governed without a set of laws and rules for relations of its members with each other. Morals are served as the criteria adopted to guide people. In other words, morals aim at strengthening the social relationship and strengthen the adjustment of the individual with societies and acts according to their beliefs. Therefore, there should be in every society common morals agreed upon by females and males to follow.