Plato ’ s great work of the middle period, the Republic, is devoted to answering a challenge made by a sophist Thrasymachus, that conventional morality, particularly the ‘ virtue ’ of justice, actually prevents the strong man from achieving eudaimonia.

This idea is vividly illustrated in book 2 of the Republic when Glaucon, taking up Thrasymachus ’ challenge, recounts a myth of the magical ring of Gyges.

* The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on " Callicles and Thrasymachus " discusses the views of Antiphon the Sophist.

Thrasymachus argues, for example, that rules of justice are structured to benefit those who are able to dominate political and social institutions.

In so doing Socrates gets Thrasymachus to admit that rulers who enact a law that does not benefit them firstly, are in the precise sense not rulers.

', Thrasymachus says in his speech For the People of Larisa, ' Shall we become slaves to Archelaus, Greeks as we are, to a barbarian?

This is in fact what has happened in regard to rhetorical speeches and to practically all the other arts: for those who discovered the beginnings of them advanced them in all only a little way, whereas the celebrities of to-day are the heirs ( so to speak ) of a long succession of men who have advanced them bit by bit, and so have developed them to their present form, Tisias coming next after the first founders, then Thrasymachus after Tisias, and Theodorus next to him, while several people have made their several contributions to it: and therefore it is not to be wondered at that the art has attained considerable dimensions.

" Dillon and Gergel are cautious not to read this as stating that this makes Thrasymachus a student of Tisias, just as it does not make Theodorus a student of Thrasymachus.

" Herodicus said of Thrasymachus, ' You are always bold in battle ( thrasymakhos )!

In Leo Strauss's interpretation, Thrasymachus and his definition of justice represent the city and its laws, and thus are in a sense opposed to Socrates and to philosophy in general.

The Byzantine Suda gives a brief description of Thrasymachus affirming his position as a rhetorical theorist.

In the first chapter of Plato's The Republic, Thrasymachus claims that " justice is nothing else than the interest of the stronger ", which Socrates then disputes.

He probably lived after the time of Euclid of Megara, which makes it unlikely that he was a pupil of Euclid, as stated by some ; and others state that he was the pupil of Thrasymachus of Corinth, or of Pasicles, the brother of Crates of Thebes.

Thrasymachus consents to Socrates ' assertion that an artist is someone who does his job well, and is a knower of some art, which allows him to complete the job well.

In Republic by Plato, the character Thrasymachus argues that justice is the interest of the strong — merely a name for what the powerful or cunning ruler has imposed on the people.

Plato mentions Thrasymachus as a successful rhetorician in his Phaedrus, but attributes nothing significant to him.

They themselves suggest a lacuna in the text, wherein Thrasymachus is declared the pupil of another, and a rival of Plato and Isocrates.

Thrasymachus gives up, and is silent from then on.

Thrasymachus was a citizen of Chalcedon, on the Bosphorus.

" A further reference to Thrasymachus in the Rhetoric finds Herodicus punning on Thrasymachus ' name.

* Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Callicles and Thrasymachus

Others include Gorgias, Prodicus, Hippias, Thrasymachus, Lycophron, Callicles, Antiphon, and Cratylus.

Prodicus, Gorgias, Hippias, and Thrasymachus all appear in various Platonic dialogues, sometimes explicitly teaching that, while nature provides no ethical guidance, the guidance that the laws provide is worthless, or that nature favors those who act against the laws.

The basic argument presented by Thrasymachus and Callicles is that justice ( being just ) hinders or prevents the achievement of eudaimonia because conventional morality requires that we control ourselves and hence live with un-satiated desires.

Euclid's pupils were said to have been Ichthyas, the second leader of the Megarian school ; Eubulides of Miletus ; Clinomachus ; and Thrasymachus of Corinth.

Thrasymachus was a teacher of Stilpo, who was the teacher of Zeno of Citium, the founder of the Stoic school.

Closer to being an example of moral nihilism is Thrasymachus, as portrayed in Plato's Republic.

Thrasymachus can, however, be interpreted as offering a revisionary account of justice, rather than a total rejection of morality and normative discourse.

Thrasymachus.

Thrasymachus believes that Socrates has done the men present an injustice by saying this and attacks his character and reputation in front of the group, partly because he suspects that Socrates himself does not even believe harming enemies is unjust.

Socrates finds this definition unclear and begins to question Thrasymachus.

Thrasymachus agrees that no true ruler would make such an error.

This agreement allows Socrates to undermine Thrasymachus ' strict definition of justice by comparing rulers to people of various professions.

Socrates has trapped Thrasymachus into admitting the strong man who makes a mistake is not the strong man in the precise sense, and that some type of knowledge is required to rule perfectly.

Glaucon's speech reprises Thrasymachus ' idea of justice ; it starts with the legend of Gyges who discovered a ring that gave him the power to become invisible.

The AMPAS was originally conceived by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio boss Louis B. Mayer as a professional honorary organization to help improve the film industry ’ s image and help mediate labor disputes.

The International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences defines psychological altruism as " a motivational state with the goal of increasing another ’ s welfare ".

Psychological altruism is contrasted with psychological egoism, which refers to the motivation to increase one ’ s own welfare.

One way is a sincere expression of Christian love, " motivated by a powerful feeling of security, strength, and inner salvation, of the invincible fullness of one ’ s own life and existence ".

Another way is merely " one of the many modern substitutes for love, ... nothing but the urge to turn away from oneself and to lose oneself in other people ’ s business.

* David Firestone-When Romney ’ s Reach Exceeds His Grasp-Mitt Romney quotes the song

" Swift extends the metaphor to get in a few jibes at England ’ s mistreatment of Ireland, noting that " For this kind of commodity will not bear exportation, and flesh being of too tender a consistence, to admit a long continuance in salt, although perhaps I could name a country, which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it.

George Wittkowsky argued that Swift ’ s main target in A Modest Proposal was not the conditions in Ireland, but rather the can-do spirit of the times that led people to devise a number of illogical schemes that would purportedly solve social and economic ills.

In response, Swift ’ s Modest Proposal was " a burlesque of projects concerning the poor ", that were in vogue during the early 18th century.

Critics differ about Swift ’ s intentions in using this faux-mathematical philosophy.

Charles K. Smith argues that Swift ’ s rhetorical style persuades the reader to detest the speaker and pity the Irish.

Swift ’ s specific strategy is twofold, using a " trap " to create sympathy for the Irish and a dislike of the narrator who, in the span of one sentence, " details vividly and with rhetorical emphasis the grinding poverty " but feels emotion solely for members of his own class.

Swift ’ s use of gripping details of poverty and his narrator ’ s cool approach towards them create " two opposing points of view " that " alienate the reader, perhaps unconsciously, from a narrator who can view with ' melancholy ' detachment a subject that Swift has directed us, rhetorically, to see in a much less detached way.

Once the children have been commodified, Swift ’ s rhetoric can easily turn " people into animals, then meat, and from meat, logically, into tonnage worth a price per pound ".

Swift uses the proposer ’ s serious tone to highlight the absurdity of his proposal.

In making his argument, the speaker uses the conventional, text book approved order of argument from Swift ’ s time ( which was derived from the Latin rhetorician Quintilian ).

James Johnson argued that A Modest Proposal was largely influenced and inspired by Tertullian ’ s Apology: a satirical attack against early Roman persecution of Christianity.

Johnson notes Swift ’ s obvious affinity for Tertullian and the bold stylistic and structural similarities between the works A Modest Proposal and Apology.

He reminds readers that " there is a gap between the narrator ’ s meaning and the text ’ s, and that a moral-political argument is being carried out by means of parody ".