Comparing Glaucon's Views And Arguments Of Justice
902 Words4 Pages
Ashdeep Mahein
Hoffman
Philosophy 101
March 4, 2015
Glaucon’s Views and Arguments of Justice In book II of Plato’s Republic, Glaucon presents two arguments on his view of justice. One of which is that people are only just so that no one will do unjust things to them. It is a common agreement between people so no one suffers from loss. Glaucon follows with his second argument that is, people are only just because of the reason that they might suffer severe consequences for being unjust. With the help of Plato, Glaucon introduces his arguments and follows by supporting them with myths.
Glaucon’s first argument for justice is made up of two components. Glaucon believes that people are unjust and they use that to their advantage, but they also…show more content… If another businessman comes and takes over his work with hostile means, it will be an advantage to this unjust businessman. He will feel in power and very happy being unjust to others without getting in trouble for it. But if another powerful businessman comes and takes over the company of the unjust businessman, he will feel unhappy. In this example we see that although the unjust businessman did the same to the just person he was very angry and upset by the same injustice that happened to him, and in the end it caused him great…show more content… People are just only because they don’t want to face the consequences of doing unjust things. Once again Glaucon, with the help of Plato, proves that even the most just, honest, and hard working people will do unjust things if they had the powers or were able to get away without being caught. Glaucon uses the legend of Gyges to show that people will do unjust thing when given an opportunity to get away with it. He explains how in the legend, a man found a ring that made him invisible to the people near him. When he discovered the rings powers he used them for his own selfish reasons. The man with the ring seduced the king’s wife, killed the king, and then took over his kingdom (Glaucon, 359D-