For this week’s discussion you need to read Glaukon’s Challenge (referred to as the Ring of Gyges) from The Republic. The question you must answer is:
Glaucon (Ring of Gyges) says that we obey the laws only from fear of punishment. Provide four reasons for obeying the law or ethical principles that do not involve punishment or reward. Is there a difference between people who obey the law out of fear and those who obey the law out of a sense of duty or character? What are those differences? When is it acceptable not to obey the laws? What types of laws ought we obey and which ought we disregard?
The Source is here:
Plato. (2010). Glaukon’s Challenge (Republic 2). (C. Woods, Trans.). Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1661519
• In this excerpt, from Plato’s Republic (sometimes referred to as the “Ring of Gyges” passage),Glaukon and Socrates are having a dialogue about whether justice (morality) is something good and valuable in itself. Socrates maintains that it is, and to challenge him Glaukon offers the story of the Ring of Gyges, which is supposed to show that no one would continue to act justly if they had the power to freely do otherwise. Glaukon thinks that this can show that injustice is by nature better than justice.