During his frustration for Socrates, Thrasymachus gives his third notion of justice, that justice is really the good of another, the advantage of the stronger and the ruler, and harmful to the one who obeys and serves. Additionally, he states injustice is the opposite, it rules the truly simple and just, and those it rules do what is to the advantage of the other and stronger, and they make the one they serve happy, but not themselves at all. Furthermore, he claims that a just man always gets less than an unjust one. (343d). Thrasymachus gives three scenarios that a just man gets less than an unjust one: first, in their contracts with one another, the unjust man will always get more; second, is regarding the city, specifically when taxes are to be paid, a just man pays more on the same property, an unjust one pays less, however, when the city is giving out refunds, a just man gets nothing, while an unjust one makes a profit; finally, when each of them holds a ruling position in some public office, a just person, even if he is not penalized in other ways, finds that his private affairs deteriorate because he has to neglect them, that he gains no advantage from the public purse because of his justice, and he is hated by his relatives and acquaintances when he is unwilling to do them an unjust favor. (343d-344a). On the other hand, Thrasymachus believes the opposite is true of an unjust man in every respect. Thrasymachus repeats his aforementioned point: a person of great power outdoes everyone else. Additionally, he states that one should consider the stronger if they want to figure out how much more advantageous it is for the individual to be just rather than unjust. As a result, a person will understand this most easily if they turn their thoughts to the most complete injustice, the one that makes the doer of injustice happiest and the suffers of it, who are unwilling to do injustice, the most wretched. Thrasymachus posits that this most complete injustice is tyranny. Additionally, …show more content…
Socrates spends the rest of the republic responding to Thrasymachus challenge. The challenge may possibly not be compatible with itself, specifically, the third point seems incompatible with the first two. Nevertheless, Socrates takes this challenge seriously. Additionally, it does not seem that Plato would take this challenge seriously if he believed that the three notions were inconsistent. Therefore, it should be understood that the three notions are compatible with each other: the first two are in reference to the ruler; the third is in reference to the actions of the ruled benefitting the rulers. However, one could posit that Thrasymachus third point is inconsistent with the first two, as was aforementioned because one could suppose that the ruler and/or stronger should do what is advantageous for