Glaucon's Challenge: The Ring of Gyges

Thrasymachus has been silenced, but Glaucon (Plato's brother) is not satisfied. He wants Socrates to prove justice is good "in itself" - not for reputation, rewards, or consequences. To sharpen the challenge, Glaucon presents Thrasymachus's view in its strongest form. He tells the story of Gyges, a shepherd who found a ring of invisibility. With this power, Gyges seduced the queen, killed the king, and took the throne. Glaucon argues anyone would do the same if they could escape consequences. He then proposes a thought experiment: imagine two lives - the perfectly unjust man with a perfect reputation for justice, and the perfectly just man believed by all to be wicked. The unjust man has wealth, honor, power; the just man is tortured and executed. Which life is truly better? Socrates must prove the tortured just man is happier.