The republic is Plato's account of a series of dialogues that occurred between Socrates and his interlocutors namely; Cephalus, Polemarchus, Thrasymachus and Glaucon at the house of Cephalus at the Piraeus on the festival day of the goddess Artemis. During the course of their dialogues Socrates and his interlocutors discussed topics like wealth, old age and justice. However Socrates was more concerned about justice and coaxed his interlocutors into a search for justice. Each interlocutor gave a definition of justice which Socrates debunked. Cephalus's definition of justice was the act of settling of debts. Polemarchus's definition of justice was doing good to one's friend and harm to one's enemy. Thrasymachus's definition of justice was the advantage of the stronger over the weaker. The dialogues about justice might have ended after Socrates debunked all those definitions but Glaucon offered to oppose his friend Socrates in order to resolve the debate about justice.
             Glaucon states that all goods could be divided into three classes; things that are good only for their consequences, things that are good only for their own sake and things that are good both for their own sake and for their consequences. Glaucon uses the legend of the ring of Gyges to emphasize his point. In the legend, he asks us to imagine a just man with a ring which makes him invisible. Once in possession of this ring, the man can act unjustly with no fear of punishment. The legend proves that people are only just because they are afraid of punishment. Glaucon proposes that no one is just because it is good for its own sake. Glaucon and Adeimantus want Socrates to prove that justice is not only good, but that justice is good for its own sake. In short, Socrates must prove that justice is good without any of the favorable consequences that come with being just. Socrates spends the rest of the republic trying to do just that.
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