We are Glaucon

 

 

"Glaucon" is a Greek name, derived from the adjective glaukommatos (γλαυκόμματος) meaning "bright-eyed", "owl-eyed", or "grey-eyed." It’s not usually meant as a physical description though, its associated with devotion to Athena, the goddess of both wisdom and war, and used as a nickname meaning "looking for wisdom." The most famous Glaucon is a perfect example, as he was both a philosopher and soldier.

 

Glaucon was the brother of Plato and a student of Socrates. In addition to philosophy and martial pursuits, he studied music, and was under the great mathematician Pythagoras. Today he is known almost entirely though his brother’s writings, but by the company we knew he kept, he most've been a figure of some of significance during his lifetime, though nearly forgotten now. About all we know of his personal life is an admiring observation by Socrates than Glaucon, an aristocrat and lover of finery in a culture that had an extreme cult of physical beauty, proved he could also love looking beyond physical flaws.

 

He doesn’t come off well in the few mentions of him in the writings of Xenophon and Aristotle; there Glaucon seems somewhat dim-witted, but then, in the writings of Xenophon and Aristotle, almost every seems dim-witted when compared to Socrates.

 

Glaucon’s own most significant philosophical argument that survives till today is his theory of justice. He considered it important yet seemed unimpressed with moral value. Glaucon viewed justice was part of the social contract, it’s a promise that asks for fulfillment, but like all contracts, only as valuable as the likelihood of enforcement. People of roughly equal power are generally just to each other because they are unable to oppress each other, when power in roughly equal we understand the negative consequences of injustice and are able to resist its temptations. Glaucon didn’t put much faith in “justice for its own sake,” because he didn’t put much faith in man’s ability to resist temptation when there are advantages to be gained. He told the story of a ring of invisibility, and if there were only one, its possessor had power over others, and would use it to his advantage, but if there were two, then both possessors would be forced to behavior with some restraint because the balance of power had been restored.

 

(In a contemporary context I think of Ukraine voluntarily giving up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security promised from Russia. Then Russia, which still has nukes, invading Ukraine. Then other nations, like the USA, who also still have their nukes, applied pressure to restrain Russia’s ravenous hungers and hopefully stop Russia from using its nukes.)

 

Glaucon is most famous for the guy Socrates was talking to as he explained the “Allegory of the cave” so, in a way, Glaucon is famously, the man in the cave trying to imagine a world he could hardly see ... but then, we are all the man in the cave, so we are all Glaucon.