Philosophies from Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero

Philosophy on Plato, Aristotle and Cicero
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Philosophy On Plato, Aristotle and Cicero
Ring of Gyges Myth
In the Republic II excerpt, Glaucon uses the myth of Gyges ring to describe the nature of justice. The myth has it that Gyges, a shepherd who worked for the king of Lydia, picked a magic ring, which could make him invisible. Gyges then takes advantage of the ring's ability to engage in unjust behaviors like seducing the queen and even went collaborating with her in the plan to kill the king. Gyges does this without the fear of losing his reputation as his identity is unknown (Crisp, 2014). Therefore, Glaucon uses the myth story to describe and even prove his argument that human beings are naturally designed to be selfish and unjust. Their just characters are usually influenced by the consequences of their actions, such as the fear of losing a good reputation.
Throughout the rest of the republic, Socrates' response to Glaucon Glaucon'st is that human beings are not necessarily unjust naturally. Instead, humans choose the types of nature that are key in safeguarding the city (Crisp, 2014). Ultimately, one is likely to be left unpersuaded by SocratesSocrates't about the unjust nature of human beings. This is because admitting that not every human being is expected to engage in unjust behaviors if given the freedom to do so is enough to ascertain that people are likely to behave the same. Secondly, SocratesSocrates't that human beings choose natures that are key in safeguarding the city implies that human beings are likely to become unjust by default without protecting the town. Glaucon’s argument, therefore, remains relevant here compared to Socrates'.
Three parts of soul in Plato
Throughout Glaucon and Socrates' arguments and counter-arguments about humans' innate nature, Plato highlights three parts of human beings' souls. The first is the rationally calculating soul, which prioritizes deliberation of what is just or unjust. The second type is the appetitive soul, which is drive by human desire or passion for acting or behaving in a certain way. The appetitive soul does not pay any attention to the consequences. Instead, it aims at fulfilling the desires of an individual. The third one is the spirited soul (Gertz, 2011). The spirited part of the soul prioritizes the braveness or determination to behave in a certain way. The spirited soul is termed as an auxiliary to the rationally calculating spirit. Understanding the makeup of a human being through the spirit and the soul is usually a deep one, as that defines the fundamental basis of a person’s very existence.
With the three forms of soul, Plato seems to define justice behaviours or acts as those driven from the appetitive soul and deliberated upon by the rationally calculating soul before being presented through the spirited soul's help, especially before the spirited soul is corrupted by poor upbringing (Gertz, 2011). Unfortunately, even up to this point, the argument lacks substantial strength to convince an individual that justice is natural rather than conventional. The main reason for this is that the moment rationalization comes in through the rationally calculating element of the soul, it shuns justice's naturality. It ...