Glaucon's Challenge To Socrates Analysis

Glaucon’s Challenge to Socrates

Glaucon begins the excerpt by speaking and describing what he intends to accomplish by the end of his argument with Socrates. Glaucon states he has three intended aims in his argument. First, Glaucon intends on stating the nature and origins of justice in regard to humanity. Secondly, Glaucon looks to display that all justice is done out of a necessity, but not because humanity is good. Lastly, Glaucon will show that the life of the unjust is better than the life of the just. Glaucon states he is only playing devil’s advocate so he can hear an argument from Socrates that satisfies the question; why is the just life better than the unjust one? He then asks Socrates to defend his point of justice with all of his passion and he would pose and argument against it with all of his strength in hopes to settle this issue for once and for all. Socrates then accepts the terms of this philosophical conversation, and says there would be no more satisfying conversation that he could have. Glaucon then begins to present his argument, by defining what justice is. He states that justice is the middle ground between, doing injustice and not being punished for it, and having injustice done against you with no form of recourse. For this reason, men created …show more content…
Glaucon, assumes that with this illustration that he will prove that all men will follow their own self interests, like all animals instinctively do. The illustration that Glaucon, uses is of Gyges, a shepherd in service to his king Lydia. During his time tending the flock Gyges finds himself in a horrible storm, and earthquake that splits the earth. Amazed by what he sees he goes into the hole and finds all sorts of treasures. Including a ring that was on the finger of a corps that he then takes from the grave and ascends