A sophist argued that justice is just the will of the powerful

In Plato's Republic, the sophist Thrasymachus tells Socrates that justice is nothing but 'the advantage of the stronger' — rulers simply call whatever benefits them 'just' and impose it on everyone else. Socrates spends much of the rest of the dialogue trying to refute this by arguing that genuine justice benefits the ruled, not just the ruler. The exchange set the terms for debates about power and morality philosophers still argue over today.

— Plato, The Republic — Book I (c. 375 BC)
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