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Summary of socrates and glaucon
Summary of socrates and glaucon
Just or unjust, which is better
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Glaucon argues that if Gyge’s magic ring were given to a just person and an unjust person, then they both would act unjustly. Glaucon also suggests that as humans, we are born with desires and if opportunity presents itself for us to carry out those desires without getting caught or our reputation being tarnished, we would carry out all our desires. As humans, we do things naturally and they are part of our “human nature,” naturally humans carry out a reputation- an image we want to present to the public. Not only do we have reputations to carry out, we also have expectations to fulfill and are afraid of getting caught. And therefore, we live our life as if we were on surveillance cameras. For example, cheating is considered a horrendous act with many consequences, such as expulsion or receiving a zero on your exam. …show more content…
Being said, if a just person and an unjust person has the exact same ring as Gyge’s, giving them the ability of being invisible both just and unjust persons by “human nature” will follow out their desires because the just person will no longer live in fear, expectation, or have their reputation blemished if no one is there to watch and see them. In other words, they longer fear in getting caught. As for the unjust person, they will do what they already have been doing except they can do it with peace because no one can watch them or catch them in their “acts”. So, if both just and unjust persons receive this ring of invisibility they both would end up being unjust because it is human nature to have desires and now they both can fulfill them because they no longer in fear of getting
Deception is one of mankind’s most versatile and powerful tools and is used nearly every day for both evil and good. Whether it be deceiving an army in battle or using exaggerations and myths to teach a child right from wrong, deceit allows one to advance his selfish or selfless intentions by providing them a source of influence on others. Such deception is evident throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight—the host’s wife’s dishonesty in particular—as it helps to spur the plot of the poem. Lady Bertilak’s purposeful deception of Gawain has questionable motives that highlight the theme of human imperfection and susceptibility to temptation.
The three men discuss justice as if it's a good thing. Glaucon wants Socrates to prove that it is, and argues if it is just to do wrong in order to have justice, or on the other hand, is it unjust to never do wrong and therefore have no justice. For example; a man who lies, cheats and steals yet is a respected member of the community would be living a just life, in comparison to a man who never lied, cheated, nor stole anything but lives in poverty and is living an unjust life. Glaucon assumes the life of a just man is better than the life of an unjust man.
Glaucon presents an argument against justice in order to pressure Socrates to give a more convincing argument for living a just life. He was unsatisfied with Plato’s counterargument against Thrasymachus. Glaucon wants to believe that justice is good and that living a just life will result in a good life, unlike the Fool in the Leviathan. However, Glaucon strengthening the argument that the unjust life is better. Glaucon starts his argument with the three ways in which something can be good: good in itself, good in itself and good for its consequences, and bad or indifferent in itself but good for its consequences. After presenting these three types of good things, Glaucon asks Socrates to place justice into one of the three categories. Socrates’s responds by saying the he would define justice as the kind of good that we like both for its own sake and for its consequences. Glaucon then requests that Socrates present a convincing argument that justice is good for its own sake, regardless of its consequences. He essentially wants to hear a compelling argument that shows justice as a kind of good that is good for its own sake. Glaucon eventually developed a case that supports the unjust life. He argues that anyone, just or unjust, would commit acts of injustice if they could get away with it and not suffer any consequences. To support his claim, he
...cting unjustly. Therefore, justice is determined to be intrinsically valuable from the negative intrinsic value of injustice that was demonstrated, as well as from parts of the soul working together correctly. Glaucon also wants Plato to show that a just life is better than an unjust life. It has been shown that when the soul is in harmony, it only acts justly. It is in a person’s best interests to have a healthy soul, which is a just soul, so that the person can be truly happy. This means that by showing justice has an intrinsic value, it can also be concluded that it is better to live a just life opposed to an unjust life. The conclusion that I have drawn is that Plato’s argument against the intrinsic value of injustice is sufficient to prove that the just life is superior, even if the unjust life may be more profitable.
Attempting to follow the extremely contradictory knightly code, Gawain develops a bad self-image, has trouble thinking freely, and loses track of his overall purpose. The setbacks he experiences mirror the setbacks people face when striving for complete perfection. However, Gawain is able to embark on an eye-opening journey driven by the need to be perfect, which eventually helps him to realize that with the fight for perfection comes not only negatives, but a few positives as well. Reaching for goals that might not necessarily be in the realm of possibility may mean failure to complete that specific task or reach that specific status, however, the achievement of slightly smaller goals is likely. When looking for complete perfection, lessons can be learned and smaller goals can be achieved, which may eventually lead to the completion of a main goal. It is when a person loses sight of the fact that perfection is unobtainable when self-images are destroyed, free thinking is lost, and when people wavier
Whether people are noticing a fight or hearing about a person who risks their life for someone else, people always witness good and bad human behaviour. However, these actions can have negative results: a person in a fight can become seriously injured, and a person risking their life can easily end up dead. In The Book Thief, Markus Zusak proves that kind or cruel human behaviour often causes consequences through the actions of several characters.
When relating Plato’s “Ring of Gyges” to the culture that we live in now, he explains that persons are selfish and egoistic. The reason is that people do not always do the unfair things because they fear of being caught and harmed. As a human being, everything we do is coherent. When it comes to Cultural relativism, it is our beliefs, customs, and ethical virtue that relate to our social context. The main purpose is that most people do the right or wrong things that affects the society. The story explains the meaning behind what Glaucon is saying about his culture and what he had to go through and it contradicts his egoism.
The heavy rain slammed against the ground in the dark of night. The man rounded the corner only to witness the dreadful sight of a lifeless figure limp on the coated concrete. It was horrid, blood splatter, and torn flesh. The torture that this poor person could have endured would be preposterous. He was enraged, teeth clenched, he cursed the gods for allowing such people to get killed by emotionless and cruel “humans”. Every single person born on this Earth is not invincible to such acts. Similar to William Golding, every human contains a non-civilized or barbaric characteristic due to the fact that people always struggle for power, someone’s craving for their desires can cloud their judgment of what’s right, and the only thing that contains
When one is just, he seems to receive endless amounts of praise and fortune due to the common belief of those surrounding him that he is indeed just. Contrary, when one is unjust, he receives endless amounts of shame and hardships due to the prevailing belief of those surrounding him that he is indeed unjust. However, one has the ability to put on a façade and deceive those around him into thinking that he is just, when, in reality, he is unjust. This can lead to many misinterpretations of a man’s true actions as his peers do not truly know, nor even realize that they do not know, that he may be unjust in private affairs. Similarly, if a man has a universal reputation for being unjust, but is actually just, he would be treated as if he indeed
No matter where we go in the world, we will always be surrounded and tempted by sin. These temptations test our character and morality, and they prove that our human nature inherently causes us to fall to the sins that encompass us. Even though the world is a dark and immoral place to live, we all value our lives and are prepared to do almost anything to protect ourselves from harm’s way. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the green girdle serves as symbol that highlights Gawain’s incessant love for life that tempts him to stray from his knightly code of chivalry.
In conclusion, I have argued that without a sense of accountability a connection to morality cannot be made. Wirzba’s claim holds true, and we must take into account our actions and be respectful of the requirements of the places we encounter.
Last but not least, injustice does not provide the most good for the most number of people. Just acts spawn other just acts just like unjust acts spawn other unjust acts. If everyone behaved unjustly, mankind would return to a state of nature (everyone is for themselves) which would be very unprofitable for the unjust individual due to a decreased likelihood of survival. An action is clearly unprofitable for the unjust individual if it would eventually create a hostile environment for him. Hence, one should set an example for others by living a just life which would create a better environment for him as well as for others.
Deception has a history… that consists of shifts in the activities [and] objects… that people associate with deception, the concept’s moral valances, and the sites where it is both performed and exposed. Duplicity is undoubtedly an ancient human behavior, but how people have explained and especially policed
middle of paper ... ... Even though he has escaped the immediate and blatant prejudice that overwhelms Southern society, he constantly faces subtle reminders of the prejudice that still exists in society at this time. Even if they are not as extreme as the coin-eating bank. A major reason the invisible man remains invisible to society is because he is unable to escape this bigotry that exists even where it is not supposed to.
Note that this essay maintains that to seek to act immorally is irrational. To attempt at least to act morally if given the option is rational. It is also irrational for justice to be arbitrary.