Abstract

In the first book of the Republic, through the figure of Thrasymachus Plato presents the antithesis of Socrates’ idea of justice. Justice, declares the sophist, is nothing but the stronger person’s advantage. The climax of his colorful and violent entry on the scene is the argument that the happiest person of all is the tyrant. In this interpretive study I discuss Thrasymachus’s approach to political and personal power, together with Socrates’ refutation of it, based on a reconstruction of seven explications on the justice-theme by the sophist. From a philosophical perspective that takes account of a range of literary, psychological, and historical factors, I analyze the Republic’s opening dialog as a foundational text in Plato’s theory of virtue, state, and soul. The Republic has retained its status as one of the most influential works in the history of Western philosophy. In the Republic, Thrasymachus serves, in an essential way, as an opening catalyst for Plato’s following exposition. Remarkably, this study represents the first full-length examination of both Platonic and historical Thrasymachus.