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The Republic Essay

871 Words4 Pages

In The Republic, Plato presents his account of social philosophy and ethics where he discusses the need for a principled understanding of justice as a good that is desirable in itself and for its results. From the beginning, The Republic, subjects itself towards answering the question “ What is Justice?”. Plato approaches this question from both a broad and specific lens; examining the attributes of social justice and its compatibility with human nature and morality. This was done through a thought-experiment between three characters: Glaucon, his brother Ademantus and Socrates. The thought-experiment was presented with the intention of examining justice and allowing the characters to present their own claims regarding which class of goods …show more content…

The three classes of goods include goods that are good for its own sake (independent of their consequences), goods that are only desirable for their consequences, and goods that are desirable in themselves and for their consequences. Socrates responds by saying that justice is a good that is desirable in itself and for its results. Glaucon disagrees and claims that justice falls in the class of goods that are good only for their consequences. He believes that justice was created as a means or compromise between two scenarios. The first consisting of committing injustice and not being punished (which would be considered as inherently good) and the latter as suffering injustice without the power of retaliation (which would be considered evil). In other words, according to Glaucon, justice is a compromise between right and …show more content…

After possessing this ring, the shepherd uses his newfound power of invisibility to seduce the queen, and with her help he murdered the king and took the throne. This suggests that there are no men who are inherently virtuous enough to resist the temptation of being able to perform any act of injustice knowing very well that they will not be known or discovered. If the power to do injustice were given to those who are usually too powerless to practice injustice, then, like the shepherd with the ring, they would be as unjust as

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342 Words | 2 Pages

the Republic, Socrates argues that justice ought to be valued both for its own sake and for the sake of its consequences (358a1–3). His interlocutors Glaucon and Adeimantus have reported a number of arguments to the effect that the value of justice lies purely in the rewards and reputation that are the usual consequence of being seen to be just, and have asked Socrates to say what justice is and to show that justice is always intrinsically better than is acting contrary to justice when doing so would win you more non-moral goods. Glaucon presents these arguments as renewing Thrasymachus’ Book 1 position that justice is “another’s good” (358b–c, cf. 343c), which Thrasymachus had associated with the claim that the rulers in any constitution frame

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700 Words | 3 Pages

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300 Words | 2 Pages

Aristotle, according to me, has a rather satisfactory counter-argument to Glaucon’s opinions in the Ring of Gyges Story. It is true that what is good for one might not be necessarily good for another and if doing something evil makes one feel good then that particular individual is essentially very immoral. An individual who is not as deep into immorality as this particular person would feel a level of guilt if they did something evil. Glaucon’s proposal that good people lack the good things evil behavior brings is, therefore, nullified.

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1605 Words | 7 Pages

In an attempt to amass an overall consensus of justice being desirable as a benefit to the health of the soul, and the necessity placed on maintaining its ideals as a virtue (as expressed by Socrates to resolve Thrasymachus 's definition); Glaucon extends his argument of justice to include the concept of the Three Kinds of Goods. As explained, all goods can be divided into three classes: as a mere means such as physical labor, as an end akin to joy, and as both a means and an end comparable to maintaining knowledge (book ii). Although an advocate for the belief that justice is coveted both as a means and an end, Glaucon alludes that most individuals classify justice under the first group: justice is no more than a mere means. He continues to elaborate on the idea that justice is viewed as a necessary evil, and that it is only maintained in order

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2106 Words | 9 Pages

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484 Words | 2 Pages

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370 Words | 2 Pages

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1598 Words | 7 Pages

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763 Words | 4 Pages

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661 Words | 3 Pages

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362 Words | 2 Pages

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1355 Words | 6 Pages

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489 Words | 2 Pages

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823 Words | 4 Pages

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832 Words | 4 Pages

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