How Is Plato Inherently Evil

In Plato’s “Republic” he tells a story of a shepherd who finds a ring that will turn him invisible. Immediately upon the discovery of this fact the shepherd gives in to his most unjust desires and plots, with the queen, against the king. This story is supposed to show that if it was possible not to be seen or caught doing something unjust that any man would follow that course of action. I disagree with this because I do not believe man to be inherently evil and it is well known that positive reinforcement is a far more powerful impetus than punishment. In addition to disagreeing with the idea that any man would turn evil by simply taking away the ability to be punished for an action, I would argue that most people are naturally more inclined to be good; therefore, it takes very little to make them act accordingly even when others are not watching. …show more content…
While there are certainly people in the world to whom this applies, it is far from the default state of humankind. If people truly were evil by default then how would we have evolved into our current social system. Would not evil beget evil? While we could say that some odd few nice guys devised this system that is generally better for everyone, how would you get the generally evil masses to go along with such an idea? The offering of a reward in the afterlife would help towards that goal but we have seen many corrupt church officials through history. If a promised reward of heavenly delights or threat of eternal damnation can not persuade an evil man to act according to the laws of the holy culture he is steeped in then how would such a system take over if evil were the default setting for man? I would say that it couldn’t and therefore man must not be inherently