Plato?s Tough Guys and Their Attachment to Justice

This book challenges the assumption that self-interest is the basis of our actions. It does so through examining two Platonic characters, Thrasymachus in Plato?s Republic and Callicles in Plato?s Gorgias, both of whom attack justice and champion thoroughgoing selfishness. The author argues that by following the subtleties of Plato?s presentation, we see that both characters unwittingly display a kind of devotion to their selfish principles, and more broadly a combination of contempt for justice and unselfconscious attachment to it. They thereby offer surprising support for the proposition that human beings are not simply self-interested. Moreover, the author argues that the attachment to justice that Thrasymachus and Callicles display is in many respects akin to the attachment to justice that most people feel.