ABSTRACT
The second, political role for well-being prompts disagreement. Socrates (in the Gorgias and Republic, especially), the Eleatic stranger (in the Statesman), and the Athenian (in the Laws) assert that political action-law making, judging, educating, war making, and the rest-should promote the well-being of the political community’s citizens. But other characters, including Callicles (in the Gorgias) and Thrasymachus (in the Republic) maintain that politics should serve the well-being of politicians. The ensuing debates in large part concern competing conceptions of well-being. Socrates and his allies emphasize cooperative goods as opposed to the competitive trophies favored by Callicles, Thrasymachus, and their kind. Team Socrates suggests that if politicians would take the correct view of well-being, they would not see a deep conflict between their own and that of the citizens. Team Callicles and Thrasymachus suggests that if politicians took the Socratic view of well-being they would display weakness and forego some of life’s greatest advantages.
