The Good Life Digest — Gorgias (VCE 3/4)

Callicles lost the battle, but won the war.

Photo by Constantinos Kollias on Unsplash

Preface

VCE Unit 3/4 Philosophy has quite a few texts. As I work through the reading material, I’ll be publishing notes and my interpretation of points brought up in the text. This isn’t a substitute for the real thing, only supplementary reading that summarises it as best I can.

The Happiness of a Criminal

“If death is the penalty for his crime… you’d better ensure that he lives in his state of wickedness for as long as possible” — Socrates

Polus and Socrates evaluate the happiness of an unpunished criminal against a punished one. Each hold contradicting perspectives on the role of joy in criminal behaviour. Polus believes that the offender derives joy from the act itself, while Socrates maintains that the act is symptomatic of their unhappiness. Stubbornly, he insists that criminals who are unpunished for their wrongdoings would be the most unhappy of all.

This draws from a conflation between moral good and personal happiness. Such a distinction might have seemed unnecessary at the time, but modern advancements in psychological research reveal that plenty of people can feel fulfilment from abhorrent acts. Conditions like psychopathy reveal how varied human happiness can be. No matter how much we may disapprove of a criminal, their enjoyment from the act may be independent of social platitudes.

Socrates ultimately reasons that it is better to suffer injustice rather than cause it. He believes that your personal character is tainted by the evil nature of a crime. One who ‘suffers justly’ is forgiven for their wrongdoings and therefore given happiness. This may be fuelled by the prevalence of religion in Ancient Greece, with Socrates implying that punishment for wrongdoings is a form of repentance. He believes punishment may absolve the criminal of evil and sadness through the cleansing of the soul.

Fragility of Beliefs

“It’s preferable for almost everyone in the world to find my beliefs misguided and wrong, rather than… contradict and clash with myself” — Socrates

Callicles is unimpressed and refuses to believe that Socrates really holds this perspective. In return, Socrates doubles down and criticises Callicles for conforming to the whims of his beloveds.

• Callicles is accused of pandering to the Athenian people and Demus.
• Socrates admits to similar concessions with Philosophy and Alcibiades.

Same-sex relationships were much more common in Ancient Greece than today. Heteronormative couplings usually served simply as a means to preserve the bloodline. However, the power between partners was heavily imbalanced due to age differences and the prevalence of slavery.

In this case, Socrates refers to these men to illustrate the fragility of our beliefs when confronted with opposition. He essentially portrays Callicles as someone who stands for nothing, as he would simply default to the ever-changing whims of the Athenian public rather than stand his ground. Similarly, Callicles may be feigning agreement with Demus to continue their sexual relationship instead of genuinely being persuaded. It also allows him to paint Philosophy itself as the scapegoat for his prior comments due to its interest in the Truth rather than consensus.

Rule of Law

“All the belongings of worse, inferior people… are the property of a man who is better and superior.” — Callicles

Callicles strongly disagrees with the notion that doing wrong is more contemptible than suffering wrong, believing that Socrates is presenting popular conventional ideas as natural. He despises this ‘clever, but unfair’ argumentative trick as it moves the underlying context of the question. Personal slights are deemed exclusive to the pitiable lives of slaves rather than any “real man’s experience.”

As a decorated Greek soldier, Callicles holds great disdain for “the majority of the human race” who hide their weakness behind rules and regulations to “cow the stronger ones.” Society’s sense of injustice prohibits him from exercising his expertise and strength to increase his share. It is only natural that the better, more capable creatures should dominate their inferiors.

Callicles has observed an innate human need for domination that is consistent across communities and nations. He decries the enslavement of the strong, possibly mirroring his own experience in the army and a disillusionment with the democratic system. If Callicles believes this, why serve as a soldier and protect the weaklings that he detests?

Self-Discipline vs. Self-Indulgence

“The only authentic way of life is to do nothing to hinder or restrain the expansion of one’s desires, until they can grow no larger, at which point one should be capable of putting courage and cleverness at their service and satisfying every passing whim.” — Callicles

Unimpressed, Socrates questions the freedom of a person with such indulgent tendencies. Allowing yourself to endlessly consume and lust for power surrenders all control of oneself to pleasure. Pleasure is not a goal to constantly pursue, but a vice that must be managed.

His perceived naivety disgusts Callicles, who is convinced that self-restraint is yet another weak-minded rule that attempts to guilt the powerful into submission. Man-made conventions are arbitrary compared to the universal approval and sanctions of nature. If a person is capable of living a sensual, self-indulgent life, there would be nothing more shameful than the folly of self-discipline and justice.

Through a persuasive allegory, Socrates introduces Callicles to the model of the human mind as a jar. Satisfaction for a fool is as unachievable as filling the leaky jar with the aid of a sieve. Taking the allegory further, he encourages Callicles to envision jars to be filled with expensive, rare liquids such as milk, honey and wine. The self-disciplined man fills the jar and is satisfied, whereas the cracked jars of the self-indulgent man force him to constantly toil to fill the jars.

Entirely missing the point, Callicles pities the man with the full jars who can no longer feel pleasure. Satisfaction is an absence of both pleasure and distress, meaning an enjoyable life must constantly pour more liquid in.

Socrates clarifies that an equal amount must be leaving the jar as is entering it, implying that attaining more pleasure beyond your base needs ultimately inflicts distress in equal weight.

“Good” and “Bad” Pleasures

“The main question I want to ask is whether a lifetime spent scratching, itching and scratching, no end of scratching, is also a life of happiness” — Socrates

Socrates naturally wants to see how far Callicles is willing to take his enjoyment. A lifetime spent eating, drinking and scratching all seem equally pleasant and desirable to him. He cuts directly to the core of his argument, confronting Callicles with the life of a male prostitute. Prior to translation, Socrates was referring to a caste of enslaved sex workers in Greece rather than what is imagined when prostitution is addressed today.

Basically, Socrates is saying too much of something is a bad thing. Despite the celebration and prevalence of sex at the time, dedicating your life to it would have diminishing returns. Callicles can’t begin to comprehend this and stubbornly maintains that pleasure and the good are the same to protect his argument. This violates his previous promise to stand by his beliefs, leading Socrates to end this line of questioning.

Socrates suggests that a good life cannot coexist with obsessive vices. Drugs, sex and alcohol offer an enticing pleasure despite their dangers and taboo status. Given that these “bad” pleasures exist, they cannot be synonymous with the good which Callicles pursues.

Conclusion

Gorgias is like reading Socrates debate against a brick wall. Callicles ignores or fails to comprehend many of his arguments and insists upon the superior man’s natural right to power. Regardless, Socrates takes the opportunity to challenge himself in stride. The world may have fallen into Callicles’ perfect fantasy, but Socrates reminds us that the good life can be found without buying into endless consumerism.