Plato's Republic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Plato's Republic - Essay Example In this sense, justice is instrumental to both ethical and political philosophy—the practical sciences—and guides them both. However, the inevitable question comes about from Thrasymachus, who asks â€Å"what if one can get away with being unjust?† Socrates answer essentially comes in the following: â€Å"those who practice justice do it unwillingly, because they lack the power to do injustice.† To rephrase, because justice is a virtue, it is a characteristic of one’s psyche, or a way of perceiving the world, and it simply comes naturally when one reacts to certain situations. Accordingly, if all members of a given society possessed the virtue of justice, the society would be just, which, as will be argued here, necessary for the formation of a functional society. But the problem remains: what if a man can act unjustly and not suffer any consequences? Indeed, if given the change, people would act upon such an opportunity, disobeying common moral principles. Glaucon resorts to a fantastical thought experiment wherein two magic rings are produced and given to man. His story describes the rings of magic that make men indivisible whenever they are placed on his finger. Glaucon, in the process of helping Socrates build his Ideal State, proposes that each and every human being would conduct himself in a similar manner given this amazing power. They would, according to him, both break into houses unseen and help themselves to whatever they fancied. Freed of legal and social responsibility (the invisibility of the Ring of Gyges represents immunity from justice), any man could not, and so would not, feel any need for the virtue of justice. Glaucon’s position then becomes one of pessimism: the just man is only just insofar as he possesses a fear of the consequences of his actions in terms of potential punishments, whether these punishments are inflicted upon