# Glaucon — Dialogues character guide

> Glaucon in Dialogues by Plato.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0057-book-i

## Snapshot

Plato's brother, restless and ambitious, who demands that Socrates prove justice is good for its own sake and not merely for its rewards.

## Who they are

Glaucon is the young Athenian who refuses to be satisfied with easy praise of justice and instead revives Thrasymachus' hardest challenge in his own voice. He wants to hear justice honored for itself, stripped of reputation and consequence, and he is willing to argue the unjust life's case to get there. His insistence turns the Republic from a definition game into a founding of cities and souls.

## In the story

### [Dialogues](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/dialogues)

Challenges Socrates on the nature of justice in the Republic.

### [Republic](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/republic)

Challenges Socrates to defend justice for its own sake.

### [Introduction and Analysis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/introduction-and-analysis)

Socrates' interlocutor, who is urged to follow the argument and is addressed directly in the search for justice.

### [The Republic](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/the-republic)

Socrates' interlocutor; responds to Socrates' arguments about justice and the philosopher's role.

### [Book II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/book-ii)

Challenges Socrates to defend justice intrinsically, excluding reputations and rewards.

### [Book III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/book-iii)

Responds to Socrates, agreeing on the principles of education and the need to control tales about death.

### [Book IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/book-iv)

Engages actively with Socrates, agreeing that the question of justice vs. injustice is now ridiculous, and follows the argument about the forms of vice and virtue.

### [Book V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/book-v)

Challenges Socrates to explain the community of women and children; agrees with the resolution to press Socrates for an answer.

### [Book VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/book-vii)

Socrates' primary interlocutor, questioning and responding to the proposals for the philosopher-kings.

### [Book VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/book-viii)

Socrates' interlocutor; responds to and questions Socrates' analysis of political change.

### [Book IX: The Tyrannical Soul and the Superiority of Justice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/book-ix)

Responds to Socrates' questions, agreeing with the parallels between the tyrannical state and the tyrannical soul, and affirming the conclusions about pleasure and justice.

### [Book X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/book-x)

Socrates' primary interlocutor; expresses astonishment at the claim of the soul's immortality and engages in the subsequent arguments.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/characters/glaucon_republic
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/characters