Justice Over Lisbon

Lisbon Portugal  2019

In Republic by Plato, the character Thrasymachus argues that justice is the interest of the strong – merely a name for what the powerful or cunning ruler has imposed on the people.

“In fact, Thrasymachus says exactly what we might expect him to say if he were a sociologist giving his empirical findings concerning the political data across various poleis. He asks Socrates, ‘Don’t you know that some cities are ruled by a tyranny, some by a democracy, and some by an aristocracy?’ (338d). After securing Socrates’ agreement, he goes on to say: 

And each city makes laws for its own advantage. Democracy makes democratic laws, tyranny makes tyrannical laws, and so on with the others. And they declare what they have laid down…to be just for their subjects and they punish anyone who goes against this as lawless and unjust. This, then, is what I say the just is, the same in all cities, the advantage of the established rule. (338d-339a)”

Thrasymachus’ Sophistic Account of Justice in Republic I by Merrick E. Anderson