The whole collection · No. 3 of 36

The ring of Gyges

For the things nobody would ever find out about.

c.375 BC · Plato, Republic, Book II (359c–360d)

Where it comes from

In Book II of Plato’s Republic, Glaucon tells of a shepherd who finds a ring that makes him invisible, and says anyone with it “could safely take what he liked out of the market” (Jowett’s translation). That’s Glaucon’s challenge, not Plato’s view: Socrates spends the rest of the book answering it.

How to play it

Turn the ring on his finger until he vanishes. Then help yourself.

Pick it up

What it teaches (try it first)

Take away the audience and you find out what was holding you up: the watching, or something of your own.

Ask yourself. Would you still do it if nobody would ever know?

Private viewings by appointment

Ring for a curator.

Tell us what’s on your mind, or what you’ve been reading. The first conversation costs nothing, and you don’t need to prepare a thing.

Or write to hello@syntropise.com

A curator will reply to you personally.