@philosophyminis: Here is a test to see if somebody is truly a good person, or whether they are just faking it. You can use this test on your friends and your family to see how well they do. It goes back to Plato, and it's all to do with a magic ring. Suppose somebody gives you a ring that gives you the power of invisibility. You can go where you want, and do as you please. No one will see you, and no one will hear you. In your heart of hearts, what would be the first thing that you did? This Ring of Gyges thought experiment appears in Plato's Republic, and the character of Glaucon supposes that almost everybody who gets this ring would use it for some immoral purpose. They would rob a bank, they would spy on somebody, they would harm somebody they don’t like — all of the things that you don't do in normal times. But, of course, the real test is about why we do the good things that we do. Do we do good because we want to be rewarded and seen as good? Or do we do it because it is just the right thing to do? Because, for Plato, Socrates, the good person, doesn't care at all what other people see, hear, or think about them. They care only about justice. They care only about the good. So, are you a virtuous person, according to Plato? Are your friends? Are you actually a good person, or do you only want to be seen as good?

Jonny Thomson

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Saturday 01 August 2026 13:42:01 GMT