| | | | Hobbes believed that self-preservation was everyone's fundamental natural instinct. He believed it was essential to ground political philosophy on this basic principle. | Hobbes distinguished the law of nature (the rules that tell us how to preserve ourselves) from the right of nature - our freedom to do anything (including killing and eating others) that seems necessary to this end. Hobbes' definition of the law of nature was very different from that used by traditional natural law theorists. They saw natural law as the basic moral precepts that every civilized nation acknowledged. Many equated Natural Law with the Ten Commandments. Self preservation will decrease the interest to search for peace. Natural law command is suppose to be designed to search for peace and personal security. | | |
Glaucon believes that justice is good solely as means but not in itself. Glaucon wants Socrates to prove to him how it can be good both as means and in itself. Glaucon says that no one is willingly just, but rather compelled to act justly caused by nature, while they try to better themselves, ultimately saying that the life of the unjust is also better. Glaucon’s argument contains three parts; justice being good in itself, purely as means, the third dealing with its goodness for both reasons. Glaucon says that justice is a mean between doing what is best; which is doing injustice without paying the penalty and suffering injustice without being able to avenge oneself. Therefore, justice is not cared for because it is good, however, it is honored due to a want of vigor in doing injustice. He makes a second point on why people are unwillingly just, saying that the only reason the just are just is because they follow the rules and are afraid of being caught. However, if such a person were invisible and free to do whatever he or she wished, then they too would be unjust. Why would a person incapable of being caught by authorities be just? This is the question that Glaucon presents stating that anyone, no matter just or unjust would thrive at the opportunity to be invisible or invulnerable, then they would act in the same manner as the unjust. His last view of his argument represents the just man in a totally unjust environment, while placing the unjust man in a totally just situation, and still taking away neither the just man’s justice nor the unjust man’s injustice. He says the perfectly unjust man must be given his opportunity to do the greatest injustices, while having provided himself the greatest reputation for justice. The perfectly just man must have the things taken away from him to make him seem just, such as his honors, gifts and so forth. On the other hand, let the just man be given the reputation for total injustice, in order for his justice to be tested to see if it is softened by bad reputation and its consequences. Finally, with both men being unchanged until death so when the two men reach the ultimate extreme of both justice and injustice, then we would be able to decide which of the two men were happier. (358e-62c)
Glaucon adds to Thrasymachus in that he states that no one is willingly just and they are only compelled to be as such by the situation or condition they are in by nature. Glaucon says that people seek to get the better for themselves and it is good, therefore the lives of the unjust are consequentially better, as they receive more. Glaucon agrees with Thrasymachus in that the way of life of the unjust is better, however, Thrasymachus does not mention the idea of “pleonexia” as seeking to get the better of someone. Glaucon does not even mention the idea, directly, as stated by Thrasymachus as justice being advantageous to the stronger or that justice is high-minded innocence and injustice is good counsel; Glaucon does not touch upon that either.