GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

THE PROBLEM STATED 21
him, if he transgress the ordinances of society. Morality,
then, which we may identify with law-abiding conduct, is
not natural to human nature; it is the offspring of convention,
an offspring born not ofa natural preference for doing
right as compared with doing wrong, but of the consequences
with which society has taken care to visit socially
injurious conduct. Thus society is based upon a contract,
expressed or implied, by which every man gives up his
natural right to "aggress against " his fellows on condition
that they give up their natural rights to "aggress against"
him. The above argument is one which recurs frequently
in the writings of political theorists. The particular form
in which I have just summarized it follows fairly closely
the reasoning of Hobbes, 1 the most consistently logical of
all the exponents of the view that society is based upon a
compact or contract.
Gyges's Ring. To return to Plato's exposition of the
contract view of the origin of society, Glaucon proceeds
to cite a legend which recalls how a certain Gyges became
possessed of a ring which enabled him to become invisible
at will. He was thereby placed in a position of complete
irresponsibility, since, doing what he pleased, he was able
to escape the consequences of his actions by becoming
invisible. So he killed the king and took the king's wife
and proceeded to establish the absolute rule of a despot
whose sole object is the gratification of his own caprices.
Now is there anybody, asks Glaucon, in effect, who, given
a similar immunity, would not behave in a similar manner?
Let us suppose that we could act precisely as we pleased
without let or hindrance. Would we really behave as we
do? And if honesty compels us to admit that we would
not, are we not conceding the truth of Glaucon's main
contention that nobody is moral from choice, but only
because of his fear of the consequences, by means of
wtych society has taken care to deter him from being any-
*See Chapter XIII, pp. 479-478, for an account of HobWi
political theory*