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Criticisms of the social contract theory
Criticisms of the social contract theory
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Plato’s character in “The Ring of Gyges” is trying to convey certain points about human nature and wisdom. In Glaucon’s fictional story, Gyges is a shepherd who stumbles upon a mysterious ring which allows him the power to become invisible. Gyges eventually gives up his lowly life as a shepherd and becomes an authoritative and crooked dictator due to the power of the ring. Glaucon’s main point in this story is that people are inherently immoral and will look out for themselves over the good of others. Due to his assumption about the nature of the human race Glaucon proclaims that in order to keep human’s from causing damage to others our social order should emphasize a government that will contain their constituents. Glaucon’s proposed social order became the building blocks of the social contract theory of government; “People in a society mutually agreeing not to harm one another and setting up sanctions when they do,” (Caste, 2014).
Glaucon makes multiple points through “The Ring of Gyges” all of which are concerning human nature. The ring is a symbol which is used to make...
In Walter Mosley’s Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, the reader is introduced to Socrates Fortlow, an ex-convict who served twenty-seven years for murder and rape. Fortlow is plagued by guilt and, seeing the chaos in his town, feels a need to improve not only his own standards of living, but also those of others in Watts. He attempts this by teaching the people in Watts the lessons he feels will resolve the many challenges the neighbourhood faces. The lessons Fortlow teaches and the methods by which he teaches them are very similar to those of the ancient Greek philosopher for whom Fortlow was named: “‘We was poor and country. My mother couldn’t afford school so she figured that if she named me after somebody smart then maybe I’d get smart’” (Mosley, 44). Though the ancient Greek was born to be a philosopher and Fortlow assumed the philosopher role as a response to the poor state of his life and Watts, both resulted in the same required instruction to their populations. The two Socrates’ both utilize a form of teaching that requires their pupil to become engaged in the lesson. They emphasize ethics, logic, and knowledge in their instruction, and place importance on epistemology and definitions because they feel a problem cannot be solved if one does not first know what it is. Socrates was essential in first introducing these concepts to the world and seemed to be born with them inherent to his being, Fortlow has learned the ideals through life experience and is a real-world application in an area that needs the teachings to get on track. While the two men bear many similarities, their differences they are attributed primarily as a result of their circumstances provide the basis of Fortlow’s importance in Watts and as a modern-...
Aristotle, Antigone and Billy Budd In Poetics, Aristotle explains tragedy as a kind of imitation of a certain magnitude, using direct action instead of narration to achieve its desired affect. It is of an extremely serious nature. Tragedy is also complete, with a structure that unifies all of its parts. It is meant to produce a catharsis of the audience, meant to produce the emotions of pity and fear and to purge them of these emotions and helping them better understand the ways of the gods and men. Tragedy is also in a language in both verse and song. Aristotle's definition is clearly applicable to both Herman Melville's Billy Budd and the famous Greek tragedy Antigone by Sophocles.
Aristotle and Jean-Baptiste Clamence have two distinct views on human nature and reason for happiness. Human nature for Aristotle is that we are the rational and political animals that have a soul. As for Jean-Baptiste, human nature is absurd and that we will fail. Happiness for Aristotle is the rejection of nihilism which is that nothing in this world has real meaning. The greatest form of happiness for Aristotle is what he calls Eudaimonia, which is highest form of life or the life of rationally governed life of contemplation. On the contrary, Jean-Baptiste sulks in the fact that we all have flaws so we fail to be truly happy and the things that we do aren’t really making us happy. Clamence is misinformed with the telos
“Why act just”, is a theme through out the philosophical works of Plato, in The Republic, Plato aims to address the issue of how justice becomes a virtue in society. Please note that The Republic, in addition to The Apology are works of Plato, but the main character is Socrates, Plato’s teacher. Therefore, when referring to the two works, Plato and or Socrates can be named in reference. Furthermore, after addressing how one acts just, Plato is to ask why one ought to act just. He uses the myth of the Ring of Gyges to help explain this phenomenon of human behavior. Why having a discussion with his two brothers, Glaucon and Adeimantus, the myth of the Ring of Gyges is first brought up in conversation. Specifically found at the Stephanus pagination of 2.359a–2.360d, Glaucon, brother of Plato, first tells the legend in book II of The Republic.
Glaucon begins his argument to Plato by separating goods into three classes. The first class is composed of intrinsic goods that we welcome for our own sake, stripped of their consequences, such as happiness. The second class is the type of good that we like for our own sake as well as its consequences, such as health and knowledge. The third class is an extrinsic good that we desire only for their consequences, such as physical training and medical treatment. Plato believes that justice belongs in the second class of goods that we like because of itself and its consequences, while Glaucon suggests that it belongs in the third class of...
Plato defines Athens as a democratic society that “treats all men as equal, whether they are equal or not.” Therefore, believes that there are those that are born to rule and others that are born to be ruled. Plato presents the argument that democracy does not achieve the greatest good, giving four main objections to democracy. Firstly, he identifies that most of us are ruled by passions, pleasure, sentiment and impulse. Hence, th...
In Chapter 2 of Republic, Glaucon uses the Myth of the Lydian Shepherd to portray a pessimistic view of human nature. Plato, the author of Republic, uses his brother Glaucon to tell the Myth of the Lydian Shepherd. We are led to believe that Plato takes the myth and its implications on human nature very seriously by use of a personal character. The argument, originally given by Thrasymachus, contends that at the root of our human nature we all yearn for the most profit possible. It also contends that any man will act immorally if given free reign. The theory proves unplausible due to circularity in the argument and implications that prove untrue.
The Republic by Plato talks about justice and what it means to be a just person. When having a conversation with Glaucon about justice, the ring of Gyges is brought up to prove a theory about people and the social contracts that make up our society. The legend of the Ring of Gyges tells the story of a man who was a shepherd but when an earthquake revealed a body of a skeleton of a giant from the past he was giving an opportunity to change his status. He stole the ring and discovered that by twisting it in a certain way he could become invisible. The thief would then sneak in to the castle and convince the queen to help murder her husband, and the thief took the throne. With the common knowledge of the thief and the ring Glaucon poses a question about what a supposedly good and decent individual finding the ring would do with the power of invisibility. Socrates believes that a just person would not even put the ring on, directly contradicting Glaucon.
When relating Plato’s “Ring of Gyges” to the culture that we live in now, he explains that persons are selfish and egoistic. The reason is that people do not always do the unfair things because they fear of being caught and harmed. As a human being, everything we do is coherent. When it comes to Cultural relativism, it is our beliefs, customs, and ethical virtue that relate to our social context. The main purpose is that most people do the right or wrong things that affects the society. The story explains the meaning behind what Glaucon is saying about his culture and what he had to go through and it contradicts his egoism.
Glaucon argues that if Gyge’s magic ring were given to a just person and an unjust person, then they both would act unjustly. Glaucon also suggests that as humans, we are born with desires and if opportunity presents itself for us to carry out those desires without getting caught or our reputation being tarnished, we would carry out all our desires. As humans, we do things naturally and they are part of our “human nature,” naturally humans carry out a reputation- an image we want to present to the public. Not only do we have reputations to carry out, we also have expectations to fulfill and are afraid of getting caught. And therefore, we live our life as if we were on surveillance cameras. For example, cheating is considered a horrendous act with many consequences, such as expulsion or receiving a zero on your exam.
Socrates has, at this point, put the issue of justice to bed. However, Glaucon decides to challenge Socrates’s view and puts to him a few claims. He says that all good can split into three categories: the highest of the classes being things we want both for what we get from them and, for their own sake.
Glaucon attempted to prove that injustice is preferable to justice. At first, Glacon agreed with Socrates that justice is a good thing, but implored on the nature of its goodness? He listed three types of “good”; that which is good for its own sake (such as playing games), that which is good is good in itself and has useful consequences (such as reading), and that which is painful but has good consequences (such as surgery). Socrates replied that justice "belongs in the fairest class, that which a man who is to be happy must love both for its own sake and for the results." (45d) Glaucon then reaffirmed Thrasymachus’s position that unjust people lead a better life than just people. He started that being just is simply a formality for maintaining a good reputation and for achieving one’s goals. He claimed that the only reason why a person would choose to be unjust rather than just due to the fear of punishment. This is supported by the story of the shepherd who became corrupted as a result of finding a ring which made him invisible. He took over the kingdom through murder and intrigue since he knew there could be no repercussions for his unjust actions. In addition, Adiamantus stated that unjust people did not need to fear divine punishment since appeals could be made to Gods’ egos via sacrifices. Finally, Glaucon gave an example of the extreme unjust person who has accumulated great wealth and power which he juxtaposed with an extreme moral man who is being punished unjustly for his crimes. Clearly, injustice is preferable to justice since it provides for a more fruitful life.
Plato’s idea for a perfect government is to have three different classes to have different roles to help the society. The first group of people is the Producing class and they are responsible for providing materials and food for the city. This is where the farmers, blacksmiths, the fishermen, and other jobs like them. The second group is the Auxiliaries and they are the ones who job is to protect the city from threats, so the soldiers. The final group is the guardians, these are the philosophers and it is there job to not only be knowledgeable but to be just. Plato believes that there are several things that can derail the advancement of society. “Then nothing insane and nothing akin to dissoluteness can be involved in the right of love…Then sexual pleasure must not be involved” (121). Plato believed that sex should only be reserved for special festivals and for creating life, other than that people should keep in line with how a father and son touch each other. Plato did not just regulate what two people did in the privacy in the own home, but he also regulated what people should be learning in school. “At any rate, it ought to end where it has ended; for surely training in the musical crafts ought to end in a passion for beauty” ...
In The Metaphysics, Aristotle states, “All men by nature desire to know.” Although, this is a generalization, of this insightful statement about the nature of humans and human understanding this statement truly captures what Aristotle was trying to figure out about humans and their thinking. Everyone has a desire to know or to understand. As rational beings we tend to contemplate very simple ideas to the most complicated, like our existence, or parts of the universe, or the universe as a whole. Aristotle is known as the father of modern day psychology and biology, even though many of his ideas of these two sciences was proven incorrect. The most important concepts of Aristotle’s theory of human understanding are the notion of cause, the infinite, and the soul.
Philosophies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. The philosophies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle had different points of view but they were also similar in some ways. For example, all three philosophers had their own thoughts on the subject of justice and government. Socrates belief on this matter was that democracy was an unwise form of government.