Socrates Is Not Guilty Essay example

Words: 1902
Pages: 8

In the book, Plato Republic, Socrates had a discussion with Thrasymachus and Glaucon about justice and unjustice. In this essay, I shall argue that Plato’s solution of the temptation of the ring is successful in a few ways. I will describe Thrasymachus and Glaucon’s idea about justice, and how Socrates discuss with them in terms of the justice of the city, justice of individual soul, his theory of forms and the importance of the knowledge of the good, and the sun analogy and the allegory of the cave.

While Socrates discuss with Glaucon about just and unjust, Glaucon told a story about the ring of the Gyges. The story is a about a man named Gyges, he was a shepherd in Lydia. One day there was earthquake, and it broke open the ground and
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Later, Socrates spent a lot of time discuss with Galucon about the nature and education of the guardians. They believed that the crucial guardians must have is the right balance between gentleness and toughness, they must not be thug, nor wimpy. And the guardians must be carefully selected; they will need to have correct nature and strong physical body condition. In particular, as Socrates stated, “philosophy, then, and spirit, speed, and strength as well, must all be combines in the nature of anyone who is going to be a really fine and good guardian of our city”(Public3765).

After Socrates discussed the education for guardians, he introduced the third class of the just city: rulers. In Socrates’ opinion, that the best from the guardians group will be chosen as ruler, while the rest will remain as warriors and will be called as “auxiliaries”, because their role is to aid rulers. Moreover, Socrates considered about how to prevent controversy over who should rule. So Socrates came up with an idea that telling all citizens a useful fiction, let all citizens believe that they has certain sort of metal in their soul. “In the souls of those most fit to rule there is gold, in those suited to be auxiliaries there is silver, and in those suited to be producers there is either bronze or iron. And the city must never be ruled by someone whose soul is mixed with the wrong metal”(Sparknotes).