ipl-logo

Analysis Of Plato's Story Of The Ring Of Gyges

482 Words2 Pages

1 What is the moral of Plato’s story of the Ring of Gyges? Is he correct in his basic assumption?

The moral of Plato’s story is that when a person has the opportunity to be unjust they will be unjust. If there were no laws people would act in unjust ways and I would tend to agree with this train of thought. I think that if people could get away with things such as stealing items they desire they really would. Plato using the story of Gyges finding a ring that made him invisible and with this seduced the queen, and with her help conspired against the king and slew him, and took the kingdom (Pojman and Vaughn, 2014, pg. 499-500). I would find it very hard to believe that someone with the power of the ring to be invisible wouldn’t use it to gain something that they truly desired. It is …show more content…

Rand has a very dark perspective in my opinion while I believe that humans do what they must in order to survive I wouldn’t necessarily agree that this is their only objective. I disagree when she says, “Value is that which one acts to gain and keep, ‘virtue’ is the action by which one gains and keeps it” (Pojman and Vaughn, 2014, pg. 505-506). I think that virtue isn’t always the one all about gaining and keeping. While I think that people do actions in order to receive awards not everyone is seeking to be recognized. I agree when Rachels says that the best argument in establishing Ethical Egoism as a viable theory of morality is Thomas Hobbes principle that we should do unto others because if we do, others will more likely to do unto us (Pojman and Vaughn, 2014, pg. 527). People should avoid harming others because we should care about the interests of other people for the very same reason we care about our own interests; for their needs and desires are comparable to our own (Pojman and Vaughn, 2014, pg. 532). Therefore, I believe that Rachel makes the better case regarding ethical

Show More
Related

  • Arguments Against Ethical Egoism

    1653 Words  | 7 Pages

    This is discussed by Shafer-Landau in The Fundamentals of Ethics; he says that ethical egoism “arbitrarily makes my interests all-important” (114). If a person is required to do whatever is necessary to increase their well-being, then they must only act in their interests. Ethical egoism allows individuals to think that there is no one more important or as important as them. It supports the belief that egoists should only care for themselves, ignoring everyone else’s needs and wants. An ethical egoist will only do the things that are pleasurable for them and that increase their welfare.

    Read More

  • Response To Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    290 Words  | 2 Pages

    Plato’s Allegory of the Cave was an interpretation of the aversion humans have to things that are outside of their experienced reality, as well as a proposed solution. Firstly, I can’t help but notice that there is a racist, classist, sexist, and ableist element to Plato’s proposal. Allegory of the Cave is found within The Republic, which is a book that describes “the education required of a Philosopher-King”. Racial minorities, poor people, women, and disabled people are all immediately eliminated from the selection of potential candidates.

    Read More

  • The Allegory Of The Cave By Plato

    331 Words  | 2 Pages

    Plato compares a number of things in this essay- the material world to the world of ideas, the life of the mind to work of governing, silver and gold to virtue and wisdom. How does he use his comparisons to make his arguments? 2.)Plato creates the Allegory of the Cave to be a conversation between his mentor Socrates and one of his student Glaucon. Plato sets the story to demonstrate that the “blinded” prisoner or in a more cultural sense the men of iron. The Greeks created 4 classes of civilization the gold,silver,bronze and the iron.

    Read More

  • Compare Plato's Theory Of Akrasia

    613 Words  | 3 Pages

    Still, Plato’s full psychological theory is much more complicated than the basic division of persons would suggest. First, there are different kinds of appetitive attitudes (558d–559c, 571a–572b): some are necessary for human beings; some are unnecessary but regulable (“lawful”), and some are unnecessary and entirely uncontrollable (“lawless”). So there are in fact five kinds of pure psychological constitutions: aristocratically constituted persons (those ruled by their rational attitudes), timocratically constituted persons (those ruled by their spirited attitudes), oligarchically constituted persons (ruled by necessary appetitive attitudes), democratically constituted persons (ruled by unnecessary appetitive attitudes), and tyrannically constituted

    Read More

  • Elements Of Plato In The Allegory Of The Cave

    650 Words  | 3 Pages

    How does the story "The Machine Stops" echo the sentiments of Plato in "The Allegory of the Cave"? "The Machine Stops," The two main characters, Vashti and her son Kuno, live on opposite sides of the world. Vashti is content with her life, which, like most people of that world, she spends producing and endlessly discussing secondhand 'ideas '. Kuno, however, is a sensualist and a rebel. He tells Vashti that he has visited the surface of the Earth without permission, and without the life support apparatus supposedly required to survive in the toxic outer air, and he saw other humans living outside the world of the Machine.

    Read More

  • The Ring Of Gyges Analysis

    235 Words  | 1 Pages

    Then, once he turned the ring again, he reappeared. With this ring on his finger, Gyges was sent to the court as a messenger, and upon arrival, he seduced the queen. Gyges and the queen then plotted against the king, resulting in the king’s death, and Gyges taking over the kingdom.

    Read More

  • Morality In Socrates 'The Ring Of Gyges'

    661 Words  | 3 Pages

    The passage written by Plato goes in to great detail of how Socrates defends his position and how Glaucon defends his position as well but then leaves the reader to formulate his own opinion. With both Socrates’ position and as well as Glaucons, it is clear to see that Glaucon has the more rational reasoning within the debate of who’s happier, the just or unjust person. In Plato’s writing, The Republic, Glaucon challenge Socrates to describe justice and to give reasoning to why acting justly should be believed to be in anyone's self-interest. Glaucon claims that all goods can be distributed into three classes:

    Read More

  • Thesis: Its Better To Be Just Than Unjust '

    965 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jorge Franco Philosophy Date:11-17-14 Plato's Republic AAA Thesis:Its better to be just than unjust S1:Glaucon and Socrates confront each other with the meaning of justice they want to determine if justice can be good ,but Glaucon claims that justice isn't seen to be good but evil and has consequences. C1: The author uses this step to explain that justice can be seen to be just or unjust. S2:While having the conversation involving justice Glaucon introduces a story called the Gypsy ring and the story is about a shepherd who has a ring but uses that ring to his advantage by trying to praise the queen in the story to commit murder.

    Read More

  • Response To Glaucon's Opinions In The Ring Of Gyges Story

    300 Words  | 2 Pages

    Aristotle, according to me, has a rather satisfactory counter-argument to Glaucon’s opinions in the Ring of Gyges Story. It is true that what is good for one might not be necessarily good for another and if doing something evil makes one feel good then that particular individual is essentially very immoral. An individual who is not as deep into immorality as this particular person would feel a level of guilt if they did something evil. Glaucon’s proposal that good people lack the good things evil behavior brings is, therefore, nullified.

    Read More

  • Socrates Ethos Pathos And Logos

    888 Words  | 4 Pages

    A man being executed for simply having different beliefs from his society is quite shocking in this current time period, though the Trial of Socrates depicts just that. In analyzing the Apology and Crito it is important to applaud and recognize how Plato’s use of rhetorical devices depict the law system of Athens in a negative light. In the Crito, Socrates states that he is choosing to die because he does not want to undermine the laws of Athens by fleeing, since he believes that the laws are just even if his sentence is not. Nevertheless, through using ethos to establish Socrates’ moral authority in the Apology and Crito, Plato leads his reader to draw the opposite conclusion about the Athenian judicial system. Leading the reader to question

    Read More

  • The Final Argument Of Plato's Phaedo

    411 Words  | 2 Pages

    The final argument of Plato’s Phaedo was created to prove souls cannot perish. Plato does so by arguing how a soul cannot die nor cease to exist on the same fundamental grounds of how the number three can never be even. For the number three holds the essence of being odd, without being odd entirely. Similarly, a soul holds the essence of life through immortality, however the soul is not immortal itself and only participates in immortality, just as the number three participates in being odd. Additionally, an essence or form cannot admit to the opposite of itself just as small cannot be large simultaneously, and hot cannot be cold.

    Read More

  • Culture And Themes In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

    2037 Words  | 9 Pages

    These societies have developed inventions and ideas that have significantly affected today’s world such as, government, art, wheels mathematics, and many more (Garone). The cultures and themes from the story are displayed all across the text, and after studying Gilgamesh’s culture and story, it is evident that there are numerous cultural contribution to modern day society, such as gods, seeking revenge or love, and destroying enemies. More importantly, throughout the text, Gilgamesh was in a predicament trying to figure out the meaning of life and the value of human accomplishment (Mark). The culture of mankind has always been to seek the meaning of life, no matter the time period, religion, or community. From the times of Gilgamesh to

    Read More

  • The Allegory Of The Cave In Plato's Republic Book VII

    595 Words  | 3 Pages

    Socrates’s allegory of the cave in Plato’s Republic Book VII is an accurate depiction of how people can be blinded by what they are only allowed to see. The allegory does have relevance to our modern world. In fact, all of us as a species are still in the “cave” no matter how intelligent or enlightened we think we have become. In Plato’s Republic Book VII, Socrates depicts the scenario in a cave where there are prisoners who are fixed only being able to look at the shadows on the wall which are projections of things passing between them and the light source.

    Read More

  • Immanuel Kant's Theory Of Maxim

    582 Words  | 3 Pages

    Using Kant’s notion of a maxim it would be wrong to cheat on the final exam in a course that you do not like and feel you will not benefit from. In the book it stated this, “Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) argued that lying is wrong under any circumstances. He did not appeal to religion; instead, he held that lying is forbidden by reason itself” (Rachels 129). This shows that no matter what the situation may be that lying is looked down upon. He believed that every rational person should believe the Categorical Imperative.

    Read More

  • Heraclitus: The Doctrine Of Flux And The Unity Of Opposites

    1856 Words  | 8 Pages

    Heraclitus Heraclitus is a Greek philosopher of which not much is known beyond his works. What we do know is that he lived in Ephesus, a city on the Ionian coast of Asia Minor, and that his character has largely been inferred from his writings on philosophical issues. Two philosophical theories come to mind when the name Heraclitus is mentioned: The Doctrine of Flux and the Unity of Opposites. In his espousal of these theories he managed to draw the ire of many -- even Aristotle and Plato, who believed that his hypothesis of the world was one of logical incoherence.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Plato's Story Of The Ring Of Gyges

Open Document