Devin Stauffer

Thrasymachus is one of the most infamous villains in Plato’s dialogues; but he is not as villainous as he appears to be. Thrasymachus’ attack on justice and his debunking definition of justice are guided by a complex set of concerns, including a desire to expose the fraud that he thinks rulers are perpetrating against the ruled. Thrasymachus thus shows a concern for justice even in his expression of an argument that is regarded as the classic sophistic critique of justice. Thrasymachus’ attachment to justice, however, has to be considered in light of his struggle with the problem of justice, a struggle that has driven him neither to a complete rejection of justice nor to a simple or solid commitment to it. By presenting Thrasymachus’ wavering positions, Plato presents an example of an apparent cynic whose concerns continue to be shaped by an unrecognized attachment to justice. In this way, Plato teaches a lesson about the power of justice in the human soul.

This dissertation is a study of the beginning of Plato's Republic--primarily Book One--which I argue is the heart of Plato's analysis of justice. Too often overlooked in favor of the more glamorous "city-in-speech" that Socrates constructs in the later parts of the Republic, the beginning of the Republic, I suggest, is in fact the essential foundation of the rest of the work. Because it offers the most thorough dialectical confrontation with the everyday opinions just men hold about justice, this part of the Republic is the most important in establishing the basis of Plato's view of justice. After defending in my introduction, then, the continued importance of understanding Plato's view of justice, I devote the body of the dissertation to a close examination of Socrates' exchanges with Cephalus, Polemarchus and Thrasymachus, concluding with some more general remarks on the speeches of Glaucon and Adeimantus at the beginning of Book Two. My study of these sections shows both why Plato's Socrates was led to a "paradoxical" understanding of justice--one opposed to or different than the "ordinary" understanding--and, on the other hand, why he thought it was a mistake to abandon the ordinary understanding entirely

Thrasymachus is one of the most infamous villains in Plato's dialogues; but he is not as villainous as he appears to be. Thrasymachus' attack on justice and his debunking definition of justice are guided by a complex set of concerns, including a desire to expose the fraud that he thinks rulers are perpetrating against the ruled. Thrasymachus thus shows a concern for justice even in his expression of an argument that is regarded as the classic sophistic critique of justice. Thrasymachus' attachment to justice, however, has to be considered in light of his struggle with the problem of justice, a struggle that has driven him neither to a complete rejection of justice nor to a simple or solid commitment to it. By presenting Thrasymachus' wavering positions, Plato presents an example of an apparent cynic whose concerns continue to be shaped by an unrecognized attachment to justice. In this way, Plato teaches a lesson about the power of justice in the human soul

Stauffer demonstrates the complex unity of Plato's Gorgias through a careful analysis of the dialogue's three main sections. This includes Socrates' famous argumentative duel with Callicles, a passionate critic of justice and philosophy, showing how the seemingly disparate themes of rhetoric, justice and the philosophic life are woven together into a coherent whole. His interpretation of the Gorgias sheds new light on Plato's thought, showing that Plato and Socrates had a more favourable view of rhetoric than is usually supposed. Stauffer also challenges common assumptions concerning the character and purpose of some of Socrates' most famous claims about justice. Written as a close study of the Gorgias, Stauffer also treats broad questions concerning Plato's moral and political psychology and uncovers the view of the relationship between philosophy and politics that guided Plato as he wrote his dialogues.