Glaucon
Encyclopedia
Glaucon son of Ariston
, was the philosopher Plato
's older brother. He is primarily known as a major conversant with Socrates
in Republic, and the interlocutor during the Allegory of the Cave
. He is also referenced briefly in the beginnings of two dialogues of Plato, Parmenides
and Symposium
.
He was born in Collytus, just outside of Athens
most likely before the year 445 BC (as he was old enough to serve in the Athenian army during the Battle of Megara in 424 BC).
His father was Ariston
and his mother was Perictione
. According to Diogenes Laertius
’ Life of Plato, Plato and Glaucon had a sister named Potone
, and a brother named Adeimantus
. In the dialogue Parmenides
, a half-brother named Antiphon
is also referenced.
According to the Oxford
Greek
Dictionary
the name “Glaucon” is derived from the adjective
glaukommatos (γλαυκόμματος) meaning “bright-eyed”, “owl-eyed”, or “grey-eyed”. This is generally considered to be a devotion to Athena
, the goddess
of wisdom
and namesake
and guardian deity
of the city of Athens. It is not clear whether “Glaucon” was a name given at birth, an epithet
for adoration of the goddess, or a nickname given for “looking for wisdom”. The use of epithets was not uncommon: for example, Plato’s birth name was Aristocles, but he was called the “wide” (platon) due either to his physical build or the breadth of his virtues.
Glaucon and at least one of his brothers fought against the Megarians in the Battle of Megara
where the Athenians were defeated in 424 BC. This was during the height of the Peloponnesian War
against Sparta
and their allies. The brothers are commended for their “godlike” virtues in battle and for the famed strength of the bloodline by Socrates in Republic.
It is not clear what Glaucon did for a living (if anything, as theirs was an aristocratic family). However, Socrates does say that Glaucon is a musician and thus can correctly answer questions about musical theory and harmonic proportion. This may also imply that, like many Athenians at the time including Plato himself, Glaucon studied the musical and mathematical theories of Pythagoras
at some point.
Information on Glaucon’s life after the death of Socrates is unknown. As Plato’s dialogues of Socrates do not refer to Glaucon’s passing, he most likely died in or around Athens sometime after Socrates’ death in 399 BC.
, Republic
and Symposium
) and is widely considered to be one of Socrates' more sophisticated interlocutors.
of Athens, when they greet Cephalus
, who is searching for their half-brother Antiphon
because he supposedly has memorized the famous conversation between Socrates, Zeno
, and Parmenides
years before.
is speaking to Glaucon on the road to Athens about the drinking party (i.e. the Symposium), which occurred several years before in which Socrates and his fellows championed human and divine Love
. Glaucon had heard a previous account, and the two talk about the event in order to “pass the time” on their way to Athens.
. Socrates turns the conversation towards the definition of justice
and refutes various accounts, in particular, that of Thrasymachus, who maintains that justice is "the advantage of the stronger"; Thrasymachus, that is, claims the authoritative element in each city makes the laws, and these are called "just".
Glaucon revives Thrasymachus' account and attempts to give it the strongest explication he can, because he wants to give Socrates a clear and forceful exposition of the claim that justice is valued only for its consequences and not in its own right. Glaucon explains that justice is a social contract
that emerges between people who are roughly equal in power, such that no one is able to oppress the others, since the pain of suffering injustice outweighs the benefit of committing it.
No one, however, values justice for its own sake and everyone continues to look for opportunities to out-do his fellow citizens. In order to illustrate this point, Glaucon invokes the story of a ring of invisibility
, which was found by an ancestor of Gyges, who then used his power to pursue his own advantage. Having told the story, Glaucon asserts that if there were two such rings, one given to a person who acts unjustly and the other to a person who acts justly, we would find that the just man, with his new-found power, begins to act exactly like the unjust man.
Glaucon is present for the remainder of the discourse, sharing duties as interlocutor with Adeimantus. In books 2-10, however, the interlocutors merely serve as philosophical foils
to Socrates' exposition.
Glaucon is Socrates' interlocutor for various topics of discussion, such as the rearing and education of the just city’s “Guardian" class, the nature of beauty and ugliness, the qualities of the most evil type of man, and the subjects of thought in the immortal mind of Zeus
.
The most famous discourse involving Glaucon as Socrates' interlocutor is the Allegory of the Cave
in the beginning of Book 7.
Socrates questions Glaucon about animal husbandry
, as related to the breeding of just individuals. It is mentioned that Glaucon is particularly knowledgeable in this topic as “you have in your house a number of hunting dogs and a number of pedigreed cocks.” Further along, Socrates mentions that Glaucon is a great lover of finery, and this leads to their conversation about the attributes and limitations of human love for beauty.
's Memorabilia
(Book III, chapter 6), but is not portrayed in the more positive light presented by Plato. In the Memorabilia, Socrates seeks to save Glaucon, who was not yet twenty, from making a fool of himself before the Ecclesia
: he set out to make a speech and try and "preside" over the city, but Socrates reveals to Glaucon his utter ignorance of the actual affairs of state and convinces him not to speak. Glaucon, like many figures in the Memorabilia, is portrayed as rather dim-witted. The passage relating this tale is also notable because it includes the only direct reference in Xenophon's corpus to Plato, for whose sake Xenophon says Socrates intervened.
Glaucon appears in Aristotle's Poetics in this passage:
"The true mode of interpretation is the precise opposite of what Glaucon mentions. Critics, he says, jump at certain groundless conclusions; they pass adverse judgement and then proceed to reason on it; and, assuming that the poet has said whatever they happen to think, find fault if a thing is inconsistent with their own fancy."
Ariston (Athenian)
Ariston of Collytus, was the father of the Greek philosopher Plato . Legend holds that he was descended from Codrus the ancient king of Athens...
, was the philosopher Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
's older brother. He is primarily known as a major conversant with Socrates
Socrates
Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
in Republic, and the interlocutor during the Allegory of the Cave
Allegory of the cave
The Allegory of the Cave—also known as the Analogy of the Cave, Plato's Cave, or the Parable of the Cave—is an allegory used by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work The Republic to illustrate "our nature in its education and want of education"...
. He is also referenced briefly in the beginnings of two dialogues of Plato, Parmenides
Parmenides (Plato)
Parmenides is one of the dialogues of Plato. It is widely considered to be one of the more, if not the most, challenging and enigmatic of Plato's dialogues....
and Symposium
Symposium (Plato)
The Symposium is a philosophical text by Plato dated c. 385–380 BCE. It concerns itself at one level with the genesis, purpose and nature of love....
.
Biography
Glaucon was the older brother of Plato, and like his brother was amongst the inner circle of Socrates’ young affluent students. Although little is known about his life, some information can be extrapolated from his brother’s writings and from later Platonic biographers.He was born in Collytus, just outside of Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
most likely before the year 445 BC (as he was old enough to serve in the Athenian army during the Battle of Megara in 424 BC).
His father was Ariston
Ariston (Athenian)
Ariston of Collytus, was the father of the Greek philosopher Plato . Legend holds that he was descended from Codrus the ancient king of Athens...
and his mother was Perictione
Perictione
Perictione or Periktione was the mother of the Greek philosopher Plato.She was a descendant of Solon, the Athenian lawgiver. She was married to Ariston, and had three sons — Glaucon, Adeimantus, and Plato — and a daughter, Potone. After Ariston's death, she remarried Pyrilampes, an Athenian...
. According to Diogenes Laertius
Diogenes Laertius
Diogenes Laertius was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is known about his life, but his surviving Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is one of the principal surviving sources for the history of Greek philosophy.-Life:Nothing is definitively known about his life...
’ Life of Plato, Plato and Glaucon had a sister named Potone
Potone
Potone daughter of Ariston and Perictione, was Plato's older sister. Her mother was Perictione and she was born in Collytus, just outside of Athens. She married Eurymedon of Myrrhinus, by whom she bore Speusippus and a daughter....
, and a brother named Adeimantus
Adeimantus of Collytus
Adeimantus of Collytus, son of Ariston of Athens, was the name of Plato's eldest brother. Adeimantus plays an important part in The Republic and is briefly mentioned in The Apology and the Parmenides...
. In the dialogue Parmenides
Parmenides (Plato)
Parmenides is one of the dialogues of Plato. It is widely considered to be one of the more, if not the most, challenging and enigmatic of Plato's dialogues....
, a half-brother named Antiphon
Antiphon
An antiphon in Christian music and ritual, is a "responsory" by a choir or congregation, usually in Gregorian chant, to a psalm or other text in a religious service or musical work....
is also referenced.
According to the Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
Dictionary
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
the name “Glaucon” is derived from the adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
glaukommatos (γλαυκόμματος) meaning “bright-eyed”, “owl-eyed”, or “grey-eyed”. This is generally considered to be a devotion to Athena
Athena
In Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is...
, the goddess
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
of wisdom
Wisdom
Wisdom is a deep understanding and realization of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to apply perceptions, judgements and actions in keeping with this understanding. It often requires control of one's emotional reactions so that universal principles, reason and...
and namesake
Namesake
Namesake is a term used to characterize a person, place, thing, quality, action, state, or idea that has the same, or a similar, name to another....
and guardian deity
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
of the city of Athens. It is not clear whether “Glaucon” was a name given at birth, an epithet
Epithet
An epithet or byname is a descriptive term accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature. It is also a descriptive title...
for adoration of the goddess, or a nickname given for “looking for wisdom”. The use of epithets was not uncommon: for example, Plato’s birth name was Aristocles, but he was called the “wide” (platon) due either to his physical build or the breadth of his virtues.
Glaucon and at least one of his brothers fought against the Megarians in the Battle of Megara
Battle of Megara
- Location :The city of Megara was situated in the country of Megarid, between central Greece and the Peloponnese. Megara, ally of Sparta, consisted of farming villages, with flat plains and foothills...
where the Athenians were defeated in 424 BC. This was during the height of the Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC, was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases...
against Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
and their allies. The brothers are commended for their “godlike” virtues in battle and for the famed strength of the bloodline by Socrates in Republic.
It is not clear what Glaucon did for a living (if anything, as theirs was an aristocratic family). However, Socrates does say that Glaucon is a musician and thus can correctly answer questions about musical theory and harmonic proportion. This may also imply that, like many Athenians at the time including Plato himself, Glaucon studied the musical and mathematical theories of Pythagoras
Pythagoras
Pythagoras of Samos was an Ionian Greek philosopher, mathematician, and founder of the religious movement called Pythagoreanism. Most of the information about Pythagoras was written down centuries after he lived, so very little reliable information is known about him...
at some point.
Information on Glaucon’s life after the death of Socrates is unknown. As Plato’s dialogues of Socrates do not refer to Glaucon’s passing, he most likely died in or around Athens sometime after Socrates’ death in 399 BC.
In Plato’s Dialogues
Glaucon is featured in several of Plato's dialogues (e.g., ParmenidesParmenides (Plato)
Parmenides is one of the dialogues of Plato. It is widely considered to be one of the more, if not the most, challenging and enigmatic of Plato's dialogues....
, Republic
Republic (Plato)
The Republic is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato around 380 BC concerning the definition of justice and the order and character of the just city-state and the just man...
and Symposium
Symposium (Plato)
The Symposium is a philosophical text by Plato dated c. 385–380 BCE. It concerns itself at one level with the genesis, purpose and nature of love....
) and is widely considered to be one of Socrates' more sophisticated interlocutors.
In Parmenides
Glaucon is referenced briefly in the opening lines of this dialogue, along with his brother Adeimantus. They are visiting the agoraAgora
The Agora was an open "place of assembly" in ancient Greek city-states. Early in Greek history , free-born male land-owners who were citizens would gather in the Agora for military duty or to hear statements of the ruling king or council. Later, the Agora also served as a marketplace where...
of Athens, when they greet Cephalus
Cephalus
Cephalus is an Ancient Greek name, used both for the hero-figure in Greek mythology and carried as a theophoric name by historical persons. The word kephalos is Greek for "head", perhaps used here because Cephalus was the founding "head" of a great family that includes Odysseus...
, who is searching for their half-brother Antiphon
Antiphon
An antiphon in Christian music and ritual, is a "responsory" by a choir or congregation, usually in Gregorian chant, to a psalm or other text in a religious service or musical work....
because he supposedly has memorized the famous conversation between Socrates, Zeno
Zeno of Elea
Zeno of Elea was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher of southern Italy and a member of the Eleatic School founded by Parmenides. Aristotle called him the inventor of the dialectic. He is best known for his paradoxes, which Bertrand Russell has described as "immeasurably subtle and profound".- Life...
, and Parmenides
Parmenides
Parmenides of Elea was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of Italy. He was the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy. The single known work of Parmenides is a poem, On Nature, which has survived only in fragmentary form. In this poem, Parmenides...
years before.
In Symposium
In the prologue of this dialogue, ApollodorusApollodorus
Apollodorus of Athens son of Asclepiades, was a Greek scholar and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, Panaetius the Stoic, and the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace...
is speaking to Glaucon on the road to Athens about the drinking party (i.e. the Symposium), which occurred several years before in which Socrates and his fellows championed human and divine Love
Love
Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
. Glaucon had heard a previous account, and the two talk about the event in order to “pass the time” on their way to Athens.
In Republic
Glaucon plays a key role towards the beginning of Plato's Republic. The work begins with Socrates and Glaucon, who have just attended the inaugural Athenian celebration of the festival of Bendis, being playfully compelled by Polemarchus and Glaucon's brother Adeimantus and their companions to return with them to the house of Polemarchus, where they find Polemarchus' father Cephalus, his brothers Lysias and Euthydemus, and several other guests, including the sophist ThrasymachusThrasymachus
Thrasymachus was a sophist of Ancient Greece best known as a character in Plato's Republic.-Life, date, and career:...
. Socrates turns the conversation towards the definition of justice
Justice
Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...
and refutes various accounts, in particular, that of Thrasymachus, who maintains that justice is "the advantage of the stronger"; Thrasymachus, that is, claims the authoritative element in each city makes the laws, and these are called "just".
Glaucon revives Thrasymachus' account and attempts to give it the strongest explication he can, because he wants to give Socrates a clear and forceful exposition of the claim that justice is valued only for its consequences and not in its own right. Glaucon explains that justice is a social contract
Social contract
The social contract is an intellectual device intended to explain the appropriate relationship between individuals and their governments. Social contract arguments assert that individuals unite into political societies by a process of mutual consent, agreeing to abide by common rules and accept...
that emerges between people who are roughly equal in power, such that no one is able to oppress the others, since the pain of suffering injustice outweighs the benefit of committing it.
No one, however, values justice for its own sake and everyone continues to look for opportunities to out-do his fellow citizens. In order to illustrate this point, Glaucon invokes the story of a ring of invisibility
Ring of Gyges
The Ring of Gyges is a mythical magical artifact mentioned by the philosopher Plato in book 2 of his Republic . It granted its owner the power to become invisible at will...
, which was found by an ancestor of Gyges, who then used his power to pursue his own advantage. Having told the story, Glaucon asserts that if there were two such rings, one given to a person who acts unjustly and the other to a person who acts justly, we would find that the just man, with his new-found power, begins to act exactly like the unjust man.
Glaucon is present for the remainder of the discourse, sharing duties as interlocutor with Adeimantus. In books 2-10, however, the interlocutors merely serve as philosophical foils
Foil (literature)
In fiction, a foil is a character who contrasts with another character in order to highlight particular qualities of another character....
to Socrates' exposition.
Glaucon is Socrates' interlocutor for various topics of discussion, such as the rearing and education of the just city’s “Guardian" class, the nature of beauty and ugliness, the qualities of the most evil type of man, and the subjects of thought in the immortal mind of Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
.
The most famous discourse involving Glaucon as Socrates' interlocutor is the Allegory of the Cave
Allegory of the cave
The Allegory of the Cave—also known as the Analogy of the Cave, Plato's Cave, or the Parable of the Cave—is an allegory used by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work The Republic to illustrate "our nature in its education and want of education"...
in the beginning of Book 7.
Socrates questions Glaucon about animal husbandry
Animal husbandry
Animal husbandry is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock.- History :Animal husbandry has been practiced for thousands of years, since the first domestication of animals....
, as related to the breeding of just individuals. It is mentioned that Glaucon is particularly knowledgeable in this topic as “you have in your house a number of hunting dogs and a number of pedigreed cocks.” Further along, Socrates mentions that Glaucon is a great lover of finery, and this leads to their conversation about the attributes and limitations of human love for beauty.
Elsewhere in Greek literature
Glaucon appears in XenophonXenophon
Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
's Memorabilia
Memorabilia (Xenophon)
Memorabilia is a collection of Socratic dialogues by Xenophon, a student of Socrates...
(Book III, chapter 6), but is not portrayed in the more positive light presented by Plato. In the Memorabilia, Socrates seeks to save Glaucon, who was not yet twenty, from making a fool of himself before the Ecclesia
Ecclesia (ancient Athens)
The ecclesia or ekklesia was the principal assembly of the democracy of ancient Athens during its "Golden Age" . It was the popular assembly, opened to all male citizens over the age of 30 with 2 years of military service by Solon in 594 BC meaning that all classes of citizens in Athens were able...
: he set out to make a speech and try and "preside" over the city, but Socrates reveals to Glaucon his utter ignorance of the actual affairs of state and convinces him not to speak. Glaucon, like many figures in the Memorabilia, is portrayed as rather dim-witted. The passage relating this tale is also notable because it includes the only direct reference in Xenophon's corpus to Plato, for whose sake Xenophon says Socrates intervened.
Glaucon appears in Aristotle's Poetics in this passage:
"The true mode of interpretation is the precise opposite of what Glaucon mentions. Critics, he says, jump at certain groundless conclusions; they pass adverse judgement and then proceed to reason on it; and, assuming that the poet has said whatever they happen to think, find fault if a thing is inconsistent with their own fancy."
See also
- PlatoPlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
- PlatoPlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
, RepublicRepublic (Plato)The Republic is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato around 380 BC concerning the definition of justice and the order and character of the just city-state and the just man...
. - PlatoPlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
, SymposiumSymposium (Plato)The Symposium is a philosophical text by Plato dated c. 385–380 BCE. It concerns itself at one level with the genesis, purpose and nature of love....
. - PlatoPlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
, ParmenidesParmenides (Plato)Parmenides is one of the dialogues of Plato. It is widely considered to be one of the more, if not the most, challenging and enigmatic of Plato's dialogues....
.
External links
- "Glaukon's Challenge" Glaukon's speech from Republic book 2. Translated by Cathal Woods (2010).
- Republic Translated by Paul ShoreyPaul ShoreyPaul Shorey, Ph.D., LL.D., Litt.D. was an American classical scholar, born at Davenport, Iowa After graduating from Harvard in 1878 he studied in Europe at Leipzig, Bonn, Athens, and Munich . He was a professor at several institutions from 1885 onward...
(1935); annotated and hyperlinked text, English and Greek. - Republic Translated by Benjamin JowettBenjamin JowettBenjamin Jowett was renowned as an influential tutor and administrative reformer in the University of Oxford, a theologian and translator of Plato. He was Master of Balliol College, Oxford.-Early career:...
(1892); with running comments and Stephanus numbers - Republic Translated by Benjamin JowettBenjamin JowettBenjamin Jowett was renowned as an influential tutor and administrative reformer in the University of Oxford, a theologian and translator of Plato. He was Master of Balliol College, Oxford.-Early career:...
; with introduction