Reference no: EM133673540

Discusssion: Why be Moral?

The Ancient Greeks had a myth about a shepherd named Gyges. You can listen to this video if you prefer, but here is how the story goes: Gyges fell into cave or crevice, where he found a fabulous ring. Later, he discovered that twisting the ring on his finger made him invisible. With this power he could get away with all kinds of mischief.

The ancient Greek philosopher Platon (roughly 425-347 B.C.) talked about this myth in his famous book, The Republic. It is a book in dialogue form, a very long conversation between Platon's teacher/mentor Sokrates and some other philosophers/friends. These philosophers wanted Sokrates to explain why justice or morality is so important. They understood that no one would want to be seen to be unjust or immoral. But what about someone with powers like Gyges, they wondered.

That way, one gets all the advantages of injustice and immorality, while not suffering any disadvantages of punishment or a bad reputation. Perhaps it's unlikely a person could get away with this for very long. But the question is really, if you could get away with being unjust or immoral like Gyges, then why be moral?

Another way philosophers have understood the question is this:

GLOBAL INTEGRITY

Our chapter discusses "our commitment to our moral commitments" under the idea of "global integrity" (discussed in detail in the lecture and in Notes on Global and Local Integrity in this week's module). I think this tier or facet of integrity would be the authors' answer to the Ring of Gyges question.

They would respond to the question, "why be moral?" by saying that if you are, then you have global integrity. But wouldn't the philosophers who questioned Sokrates then want to ask,

I think you see the pattern. Sokrates saw the pattern, too, and so he understood that he needed to give a very long answer to the question. That is what The Republic is all about.

Please don't respond here like Platon, by writing a book. If you can give a fairly short answer (but still at least 500+ words), I would like to know what you think about the question he posed by invoking the Ring of Gyges myth: "Why be Moral?"