Socrates: Furnishing The Myth Of Er

In The Republic of Plato, Socrates interrupts finishing the myth of Er and says to Glaucon, “For in this way a human being becomes happiest” (619b.301). Socrates asserts that there is only one way all humans can become the happiest. Socrates interrupts the story just to make this one assertion so confidently when he seldom makes any. How does a person become happiest according to Socrates? Moreover, why does Socrates make this assertion specifically to Glaucon, while interjecting at such a pinnacle moment in the myth of Er? Socrates starts off the interruption of the story by saying, “He might be able to learn and find out who will give him the capacity and the knowledge to distinguish the good and the bad life, and so everywhere and always to choose the better from among those that are possible” (618c.301). The man will need to realize that he himself is the only one that is capable of learning this distinction. He is the only one who

Socrates concludes the argument by saying,“But rather he will know how always to choose the life between such extremes and flee the excesses in either direction in this life, so far as is possible, and in all of the next life” (619b.301). Socrates explains to Glaucon that when a man is able to think for himself and make a choice about fleeing from excesses of life, he is able to become the happiest. He will know how to avoid the extremes based on the teachings he has learned throughout his study of philosophy. When he becomes the happiest, he will be balanced on the scale of extremities, he will not have too much or too little of anything. He has the judgment and capacity in himself to moderate his desires. The man chooses moderation to lead himself toward the just life. At this point, it is no longer a choice for the man to choose injustice rather it becomes a part of his nature of a philosopher to choose the happiest