Is Justice Profitable? Essay

Glaucon states that all goods can be divided into three classes: things that we desire for their consequences; goods that we desire for their own sake and things we desire both for their own sake and for their beneficial consequences. Socrates believes that justice is in the latter group. Glaucon asks Socrates to prove justice is in the last group and begins defending unjust actions in the strongest way possible (Plato, 2008).

In book II of The Republic of Plato Glaucon says that he will "restore Thrasymachus' argument" (line 358c) that proves injustice is better than justice. He first talks about how justice came about. Then makes a second point that people practice justice without their own will and he ends with his third point that the unjust man's life is better then the just man's life. Glaucon backs up all of his points with examples of injustices and being just.

Injustice can be found everywhere in the world. It is in every household, every school, and every workplace. Examples of beliefs changing during adversity are shown in, The Nuremberg Trials, Gang Rape by Stephanie Chen, Perils of obedience by Stanley Milgram, Pearl Harbor Echoes In Seattle by Monica Sone, and the book Night by Elie Wiesel. In all these articles, Most of the time, it is people who cause injustice on others. But some choose to take a stand while others choose to participate. Participating can be a product of pressure and fear from others. Injustice on people can easily be prevented or eliminated as long as society has the courage to stand up for what is right and that people do not rely on other people to act first.

The definition of justice differs for everyone. Some believe that justice is a form of revenge and is not always necessary, and other believe that it is needed in many situations. The idea of justice usually comes down to a person’s morals and ideals. In one instance in the short story “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist Delia finds justice against her husband after years of abuse. Comparatively, in “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner, the father Abner sees his outright jealously-filled revenge as justice. These two versions of justice are almost completely opposite, but in both character’s eyes their actions are justifiable.

In Book II of Plato’s Republic, Glaucon and Adeimantus present a challenge to Socrates’ view of justice. Previously, in Book I of the Republic, Socrates presents several counterarguments to Thrasymachus’ belief that it is to your own advantage to practice injustice rather than to follow laws, if you can get away with it (Babcock). Glaucon and Adeimantus sought to present a stronger defense to Thrasymachus’ view. The main viewpoint they try to establish is that it is to our advantage to practice injustice rather than justice and that the good life is the life of injustice (Babcock). Several arguments are used to reinforce the central view through use of the Ring of Gyges story, an account of the origin of justice, a classification of

Socrates, however, thinks that justice will always outweigh benefits of injustice. In Socrates’ arguments, he fails to prove the process used to come to his conclusion. He seems to state the same things over again, without clear evidence for his reasoning. In comparison, Glaucon’s arguments are stronger than Socrates’, showing that builds a better case. Glaucon’s reasons for injustice being better than justice are clearly stated with examples for how he came to that conclusion.

Comparatively, Glaucon attempted to show a different conclusion starting from the same premise. Socrates' interlocutor attempts to show how the natural condition of man leads him to shape justice.

This is the idea that Socrates is trying to get across to Glaucon, that just because the just thing that is done is just it has to be done with good intentions for it to get there. Another statement that Socrates uses in his argument is that the justice is comparative to that of a city. Within a city there are different classes that are the guardian, auxiliary, and productive classes. The guardian class are the rulers that rule the city in order for it to function well.

Justice is a concept that revolves around a central idea of good being rewarded, and evil being punished. Meanwhile, injustice is the opposite. Over the thousands of years that humanity has existed, one of the main goals of civilization is to achieve justice whenever possible-rewarding those who do right, and punishing those who do wrong. In Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang, Yang pushes the idea that justice can be achieved, but injustice happens more frequently than justice.

1. Happiness in terms of justice- Glaucon tells Socrates and the rest of the group about the three different outcomes of why people are good. He claims that people are good for their own sake, to get something positive out of it, or a combination of both. Socrates claims that justice falls into the last category and that there are some good people in the world who do good things for the right reasons. In most of this book it seems to be a reoccurring idea that being a completely just person is not possible and that the right way to live life is actually to be unjust.

It thus means justice is not meant for people who behave just but what is in the preference of the strong such that the strong party in any conflict will have his way. This definition delegitimizes justice and hence it is not rewarding to be

In Glaucon’s response to the Immoralists Challenge, i do find it interesting about his view on justice and how there were consequences to being a just person. How he viewed that there is always supposed to be some sort of gain through doing the right thing from doing a type of good for our own sake to such goods. I truly believe that there are people in the world with a good sense of integrity. That they do good things when nobody's looking because they are truly that type of being. However, i do also believe that there are such people in the world that care about their reputation or care about some sort of gain from doing justice. I think it all leads back to how the individual is raised and the environment that they are put in. being taught

Glaucon and Adeimantus decide to take a different path in trying to understand justice. He develops three classes of goods: things desired only for their consequences, things desired for their own sake, and things desired both for their consequences and their own sake. When prompted by the brothers, Socrates places justice in the highest class, stating that justice should be valued for both itself and its consequences (357a – 358a). This supports the idea of justice as a non-relative concept. As a form of knowledge, justice simply is. Likewise, justice should be valued simply for the fact that it is justice. Justice itself is good, and in addition those who observe justice will be rewarded.

Glaucon's argument begins with a question of whether the just or unjust man is happier, and continues on a tangent from there. He states that morality is based on convenience, and that it is natural to pursue one's own interests. He says that justice can pretty much be summed up as splitting the difference of two evils. The first, being forced to restrain one's self from certain interests, and the other being becoming the victim of injustice from another person. This, to me, is the most convincing part

In order Justice to be pure and absolute, there should be no other purposes or motives attached to its virtuous state. So, when Glaucon’s candid argument is conceptualized, it belittles the principle and the role of Justice, for the attack has some conceivable qualities of truth in human beings. It is true that our actions have some kind of consequences either good or bad, depending of the action. Glaucon hence suggests that justice holds no value itself; for example, one does not merely take medicines for the sake of taking it, rather it is taken for the outcome of it, which is healing. Or when one does good deeds the person might feel a sense of satisfaction, but not of the action alone, but of the result it produces, such as the compensation either here on earth or in the afterlife. Moreover, Glaucon proposes that injustice is superior to Justice; a man is just because his weakness forces him to, but if given the power, he will do wrong. To better illustrate and extend his credibility of his argument, he details the myth of the ring of Gyges, a shepherd boy who discovers a ring with invisibility powers, and not surprisingly uses it for evil purposes by murdering the King Candaules and taking his place: Yet another painful charge against Justice. Socrates, in his part, explains the flaws of these vibrant arguments. In order to understand better what is Justice in an individual, he magnifies it by forming an ideal city called Kallipolis, this city is governed by