THE REPUBLIC OF PLATO - Studyplace

CHAPTER IV (I. 347 E-354 c)
THRASYMACHUS: IS INJUSTICE MORE PROFITABLE THAN JUSTICE
Socrates now turns from the art of government to T hrasymachul
whole view of life: that injustice, unlimited self-seeking, pursued
with enough force of character and skill to ensure success, brings
welfare and happiness. This is what he ultimately means by the
interest of the stronger.
Socrates and Thrasymachus have a common ground for argument
in that both accept the notion of an art of living, comparable to the
special crafts in which trained intelligence creates some product.
The goodness, excellence, or virtke of a workman lies in his efficiency,
the Greek arete, a word which, with the corresponding
adjective agathos, 'good,' never lost its wide application to whatever
does its work or fulfils its function well, as a good knife is one that
cuts efficiently. The workman's efficiency involves trained intelligence
or skill, an old sense of the word sophia, which also means
wisdom. None of these words necessarily bears any moral sense;
but they can be applied to the art of living. Here the product to be
aimed at is assumed to be a man's own happiness and well-being.
The efficiency which makes him good at attaining this end is called
'virtue'; the implied knowledge of the end and of the means to it is
like the craftsman's skill and may be called 'wisdom: But as it
sounds in English almost a contradiction to say that -to be unjust
is to be virtuous or good and wise, the comparatively colourless
phrase 'superior in character and intelligence' will be used instead.
Where Socrates and Thrasymachus diDer is in their views of the
nature of happiness or well-being. Thrasymachus thinks it consists
in getting more than your fair share of what are commonly called
the good things of life, pleasure, wealth, power. Thus virtue and
wisdom mean to him efficiency and skill in achieving injustice.
HOWEVER, I continued, we may return to that question later. Much
more important is the position Thrasymachus is asserting now:
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