Plato's allegory of the ring - Alex Gendler

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More than 2,000 years ago, the Greek philosopher Plato recounted the legend of the Ring of Gyges in “Republic.” The story of the ring surfaces as the philosopher, Socrates, and his student discuss why people act justly: is it because it’s what’s right? Or because it’s a convention that’s enforced through punishment and reward? Alex Gendler shares the allegory of the ill-gotten, magical ring.

Lesson by Alex Gendler, directed by Vitalii Nebelskyi.

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[martineldritch]

Such a ring would never corrupt me. Ever. It is too powerful to squander. Too precious. My precious.

[EvonixTheGreatest]

Huh, I had never gotten why the superficial power of the One Ring was invisibility before.
The idea of escaping the consequences and judgement for your actions, letting you act freely on your desires really ties into it's whole theme.

[flyingbicycles]

I think we’ve identified 4 types of fun
1) fun in the moment (eating cake)
2) onerous in the moment, but we enjoy the value it brings (exercise)
3) fun in the moment and it brings value (reading)
4) onerous in the moment and brings no value (league of legends)

[bernardoohigginsvevo]

This allegory is actually based on a real story that happened in Ancient Ionia (Anatolian Greece), minus the magic ring of course. Gyges was the bodyguard of the Lydian king, Candaules, and the two were close friends. One day, Candaules decided to show off his wife, the queen, to Gyges. Gyges did not want to, but the king forced him to, so he hid behind a curtain and watched as the queen undressed. As he tried to escape, he was spotted by the queen, who gave him a choice. He could either kill Candaules and marry the queen to become the new king of Lydia, or he would be killed by the queen's other bodyguards. Gyges reluctantly chose the first option, and assassinated Candaules to become king himself.

So, in this version, there are certainly similarities, but the king plays a much more sinister role, and he essentially dooms himself through his pride.

[ルル-jx]

Everybody comments on how well executed the animation and narration are and, while I agree, I think the background music deserves some recognition, too -- it's so beautiful and fitting!

[Gebohq]

I believe, at least in some ways, that as using the internet allows us some anonymity, we see how we act with our own limited invisibility rings.

[ladylightning]

Glaucon: I mean, who WOULDN'T immediately hatch a plan to seduce the queen and murder the king if they got a ring that made them invisible?
Me: How oddly specific

[omernavaid]

I like how at 4:05 the chariot dominated by Reason just says 'Reason', but the chariot dominated by Appetite says 'Treason'. It's just a nice touch

[devinweathersby]

As someone who has actually struggled with addiction and understands the power behind the quote: "I can resist everything except temptation." -Oscar Wilde. I firmly am under the opinion that many fail, if not all fail this test like Frodo. But like Frodo, the strongest bearers of strength of character will inevitably redeem themselves and their integrity. Facing the darkness alone and without aid is all too maddening but the strongest carry it farther. When the former addict says, "I don't drink." It is a bound promise to hold oneself to a standard of integrity and fight to become better. It is a struggle but god has life never carried on so much better than forgoing addiction. One day it importance fades but the meaning is eternal.

[nietzschesghost]

Socrates makes an interesting move by placing the bad consequences of acting unjustly in the "soul" rather than externally, since clearly the unjust often benefit externally. And though it's not true in all cases, it does seem to often be the case that the unjust person struggles with inner peace. It's hard to think of a dictator who was ever truly happy.

[tjwoosta]

I didn't understand it when I was young, but it definitely is in your best interest to maintain your integrity and moral standing in this world, with or without rules or people enforcing them. Even if nobody else ever hears about what you do it will always be there in the back of your mind undermining your self esteem. Every little insignificant impropriety accumulates and impacts everything you say or do, but like a frog in hot water you won't notice until its too late.

[eventh]

“Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think... there are no little things."
- Bruce Barton

[frogyafro]

The animation is on another level, so clean and simple and its so effective.

[Maxolotl]

First, I think it's actually super cool that the one ring was based of an ancient Greek philosophical anecdote, and second, I think it's kind of both the second and third type of good thing under different circumstances. Doing nice things often feels nice in addition to contributing to a social good that you reap benefits from indirectly, but being a good person ISN'T always that easy. Sometimes it's downright painful, and doing the wrong thing is the more immediately gratifying course of action (assuming you don't have a strong immediate sense of guilt that's intense enough to override the immediate gratification of being bad. Which is definitely the case for a lot of people under certain circumstances). I don't think it's necessarily incorrect to say that people avoid doing bad things to avoid long term consequences, even if there's no long term consequences coming from an external source. When you don't exercise, you don't feel bad immediately, but you might start feeling more sluggish and unhealthy as time goes on. There's nobody coming in and doing that to you, its just your body reacting to you not taking care of it. Similarly, that disarray of the soul Socrates talks about isn't an immediate pain that spurs people to good behavior, it's just the spiritual equivalent of having an unhealthy body, which can cause misery in more subtle ways that are harder to pin down.

[luxuryhub]

I was hooked from Galadriel's opening line: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and lookaround once in a while, you could miss it". I'm shaking with anticipation. Not even Tolkien could envision such a majestic quest to the distant lands of downtown Chicago.

[nobodyimportant]

The various philosophers' interpretation of justice is more revealing of themselves than of the world at large. Some of them would have no reason to act justly if there was no punishment, some enjoy being kind for the sake of it, and some have an idealistic perception of themselves as just which they have to uphold. Each believes every other human is motivated by the same things as them. Ironically as a whole, i think all their accounts combined work amazingly well to depict that individuals have vastly different survival strategies, and that justice is a blanket attempt to keep them all in check.

[ferociousmaliciousghost]

I'd say they are both right. Some people are good for the sake of being good while others do it because being good gives you benefits. Being good for the sake of being good can make someone happy while being good for the sake of benefits allows you to work with people to further your own goals.

[drishthesquish]

Just have to say that this was very well animated. Each scene held a lot of information while remaining easy to digest. Not easy to pull off! Well narrated too!

[fnoigy]

Too bad they didn't know about shopping cart returns back then. Would have solved everything they debated.

[rebelrevs]

TED-ED is such a wonderful platform to learn about different things, with all their animation and everything its just difficult concept made easy to learn and understand.