🏛 Plato·The Republic, Book II·4th Century BCE
The Ring of Gyges
If you could become completely invisible, would you still be moral?
Original Copperplate Engraving · Atlas of Thinkers
SCENARIO & DILEMMA
A humble shepherd named Gyges finds a golden ring inside a bronze horse. When he twists the bezel inward toward his palm, he becomes entirely invisible to anyone around him; when he turns it back outward, he reappears. Free from all human surveillance, accountability, or fear of punishment, the world lies wide open before him.