Book Two of Plato’s Republic opens with Glaucon telling Socrates a story about the “ring of Gyges.” Recount the main features of this story. Why does Glaucon tell this story? What does this story have to do with Plato’s attempt to answer the question: why are good things good? In particular, what does this story have to do with Glaucon’s division of good things into three categories: (a) things that are good in themselves but not in their consequences, (b) things that are good in their consequences but in themselves, and (c) things that are good both in themselves and in their consequences? Cite relevant portions of the text in support of your answers.
