Plato = Thrasymachus?

In the Financial Express (Pakistan?), an article on George Bush's foreign policy turns "Platonic"--translation problems, perhaps?  Faulty copies of Plato?

The Bush administration has held out threats against countries all over the world, calling some by name -- the "Axis of Evil" -- whose members are North Korea, Iran and Syria. Are these really all blank threats? If one follows the Bush presidency evidence will suggest otherwise. In this respect, Bush's policies and actions in both fronts, domestic and foreign, provide clear guidance. In other words, the Bush presidency is exclusively driven by an ideology that repudiates the authority of the United Nations for world peace and security, but embraces ideas of radicalism and self-assertion. The priceless lesson about the sanctity of Bush ideology is more wars. In ancient Athens, as Plato in 'The Republic' argued that whatever is in the interest of those who are the strongest is just, and, one can easily take this view of Bush's ideology.

Comments

[Sophrosune]

In Plato's Republic, the idea that "justice is the interest of the stronger" is put forward by Thrasymachus. But without troubling you with a lengthy argument, it is safe to say that Thrasymachus is a true Platonist. So arguing that this is Plato's idea is not too far off the mark.

[Mischa]

Ah, but a lengthy argument is what it would take to convince me that Thrasymachus is supposed to be Plato's mouthpiece, considering that the rest of the Republic is in a sense a rebuttal of Thrasymachus.

[Gerald Pechenuk]

Mischa is TOTALLY RIGHT and Sophrosune is a stand in for the Carl Schnitt, Nazi Crown Jurist Successor, Professor Leo Strauss, who LIED HIS YOU KNOW WHAT OFFF, and said that Thrasymachus's conceptions were really that of Plato's!!!! Sophrosune should be viewed as a Sophist- as in L-I-A-R!!! Gerald Pechenuk, LaRouche PAC, Chicago [email protected]

[steven andresen]

Yes, the Republic might be an attempt to refute Thrasymachus. But it is a curious refutation. Don't you think it odd that Thrasymachus was made into such a spectacle, instead of given any real meat to his argument. Yes, Glaucon was supposed to do that, but, did he do a better job?

I think Socrates could have rejected the argument put forward by Thrasymachus, but have secretly agreed to his conclusions about what justice amounted to, on his view.

According to Thrasymachus, Machiavelli, and Strauss, the story Plato gives us about our lives being like those of the cave dwellers needs some justification, and according to them, Plato is unable to do such a thing. This is why for them the Allegory, and the religions and morality based on it are "useful fictions and pious frauds."

No, Thrasymachus is not Plato's mouthpiece. More like his stalking horse. And no, one doesn't have to be a Sophist in order to believe that "justice is the interest of the stronger." Like Plato, one can be a logician.