Socrates 'Thrasymachus' View Of Justice

Thrasymachus thinks that justice is characterized by self interest. Justice is the interest of the stronger party, that is to say might is right. Injustice pays more than justice, those who practice justice are simpletons and kind of weaklings. Human behaviour is and should be guided by self interest. Right is the interest of the stronger party .Thus the ruling class is found to oblige their subjects to behave in a particular way that will suit their interests. Justice indeed to him is the loss of the subject and gain of the ruler and stronger party. He speaks more in favour of injustice which is beneficial than justice. Injustice does not only pay at the level of pick pocketing but pays more at the level of the state where rulers

Socrates agrees with justice as interest but finds fault when his interlocutor says it’s the interest of the stronger party; Socrates thinks that rulers don’t always command things that are to their interest, at times they mistake their interest and take decisions that are injurious o their interest. Therefore justice ceases to be the interest of the stronger from the moment Thrasymachus agrees that subjects are at times commanded to do things which are not in favour of the rulers (however mistakenly). Socrates further counters that justice is the reverse, it is when rulers rule for interest of their subjects and not the other way round. To him, a an ideal state cannot be built on injustice and to the interest of the rulers. Rather, an ideal state is one that is ruled to the interest of the subjects. True forms of government should attend to the interests of the weaker and not the stronger and superior parties. Rulers are paid in money, honour or penalty for refusing because they are supposed to work for the interest of others they rule not their own, that’s the reason they are compensated in any of these three ways because no one would rule without compensation since true rulership is

He agrees with Thrasymachus that justice is self interest and that men behave justly because of their inability to behave unjustly, they also behave justly because they fear the consequences of being punished by law. If they could have the ability to evade consequences of injustice by law, they would behave unjustly for it is more beneficial. It is to illustrate his point that he brings about the myth of Gyges who acquired a magical and mysterious ring from the crack of the earth after an earth quake. This ring enabled him to evade being detected in an unjust action against his master, but it also gave him the opportunity enjoy the befits of an unjust action ie entering the inner courts unnoticed, seducing the queen and conniving with her to murder and overthrow the