Injustice with Impunity

"When a person thinks he can do injustice with impunity he does it". Discuss with specific reference to Plato's Crito and Republic.

I agree with this statement completely. I will discuss why I chose my answer by giving specific examples from both Crito and Republic. Throughout this essay I will try to make the reader understand why I believe this statement to be true.

This statement is supported by Glaucon in Book II of Republic. He gives the example of 'The Ring of Gyges' and then makes the statement "When a person thinks he can do injustice with impunity he does it".

The story unfolds when an earthquake opened up the grounds where Gyges was tending his sheep, of which a dead body was later found with a golden ring next to a hollow bronze horse. From there, he took the ring and noticed that when he turned the ring inwards on his finger, he became invisible to all. By becoming invisible, he was able to kill the King and take control over Lydia; but as soon as he turned the ring outwards he became visible to all.

In this story we see Gyges, a plain shepherd from a kingdom called Lydia. Before the Ring we can assume that he had no intention of ruling Lydia, at least no more than a regular person who fantasizes about being a king or a wealthy man in a harmless way. When he sees a ring on a dead man's finger he just grabs the ring since it won't do the dead man any good at that point. At this moment he still does these with the purest of heart, but when he puts on the ring and fiddles with it to unfold the mystery, something changes in him. Actually nothing changes but he realizes that he can go invisible and can use this to his advantage. We all dream at some point in our lives what would happen if we had super powers. When it comes to being invisible all the answer we give would be mischievous (robbing a bank, cheating on an exam, walking into girls locker room etc.). When he becomes aware of the power of the ring, Gyges takes it to next level and decides to kill the king of Lydia and become the ruler. We don't know if the king was a cruel man, if he ruled his country like a tyrant. Gyges may have had the best intentions to kill the king and replace him. Maybe he wanted to rule his country in a more fair and peaceful way. None of these matter, because at the moment he killed the king his act of injustice was done. It doesn't matter what he wanted to achieve, because his acts were unjust. Like they say 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions'.

By telling this story, Glaucon aims to explain how a just and an unjust man would act in the event where there are no consequences to their actions. His purpose is to convince Plato that if there were no consequences at the end, a just person would act the same way as an unjust one. Glaucon's main point is for Plato to realize that a good man usually doesn't act willingly good but does it because he has to or he is too weak to act otherwise. A person acts just because he knows if he does it otherwise he would be punished for it. Since he is afraid of the punishment he keeps from acting unjustly. And if there were no punishment at the end or no way to be caught, any man would choose the path to injustice.

Glaucon's words make the most sense to me. He talks about being afraid of punishment and consequences. These words may seem harsh from outside but punishment doesn't only mean 'extreme' punishment like physical beating or jail time. The word 'punishment' could have different meanings to different people. For a murderer, punishment means jail or death sentence, for a kid it may have the meaning of being grounded. Let's think of a person 'John'. John was raised to be a gentleman. His family was always fair with him and taught him to be kind and respectful to other people. He was raised believing that helping people who are less fortunate than himself is the greatest virtue there can ever be. One day John was rushing to work, he was late and his boss already warned him about his tardiness. Just when he was running he sees an old blind woman with shopping bags trying to cross the road. No one is helping her and the traffic is moving so fast that without help she doesn't stand a chance. John wants to help the lady, but if he does he will get fired. He thinks for a second and decides to continue his way. Now, John may not have been fired since he made it on time but being such a helpful and caring person, the fact that he turned his head to a helpless woman will haunt him for some time. For some people, this kind of psychological and moral punishment is worse than physical ones. I believe this is what Glaucon is trying to explain. People do just things because if they act otherwise they know they will be punished, whether physical or mental.

Now let's look at Crito. In Crito, we read the story of Socrates' and Crito's conversation. This conversation takes place in Socrates' cell. Socrates is sentenced to death and Crito visits him in his cell to convince Socrates to break out. Crito is an old friend of Socrates and when he hears that Socrates is fine with the decision of execution,