Thrasymachus on Justice

Two sophists, Callicles and Thrasymachus, are infamous for their claim: might is right.

They do not believe in the gods, and they are sophists who believe in relative truth only. With that being said, they also do not believe in accidents, fate, gods or destiny. They were both firm believers that no human or natural power had the power to make something morally right.

Thrasymachus’ claimed that it is more profitable to live an unjust life than a just life. In fact, most of the arguments he made for the Sophists had to do with justice. Thrasymachus was involved in local politics, as well as the political decisions of neighboring cities.

With the claims "might is right," it’s easy to see why he believed the successful profitability of an unjust life to be true. If you can lie and trick people to get ahead, steal money, or deceive, and do so without guilt, then it would certainly be more profitable.

His claims are:

• Justice is only the advantage of the stronger

• Each government lays down laws for its own advantage

• Justice is the same in all cities: advantage of the established rule

• Justice is really the good of another

Thrasymachus’ style for arguments via dissoi logoi were also unique in nature. While most rhetoricians argued systematically, he told people that if they really wanted to know what justice is then they should go find out for themselves. After all, everything is subjective anyway.

Sources

Anderson, Merrick E. "Thrasymachus' Sophistic Account of Justice in Republic i." Ancient Philosophy, vol. 36, no. 1, 2016, pp. 151.

Herzberg, Bruce, and Patricia Bizzel. The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical times to the Present. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001. Print.

Pecorino, Philip A. "Chapter 2: The Greeks." Introduction to Philopsophy. Queensboro: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License, 2000. N. pag. Print.