Morality or "false consciousness"? How moral naturalists can answer Thrasymachus's challenge

Abstract

In Book I of Plato's Republic, Thrasymachus famously maintains that ideas of morality and justice are nothing more than an ideology indoctrinated in "the weaker" to benefit "the stronger." This is Thrasymachus's challenge to morality: The thesis that some social arrangements, including some moral norms, are products of "false consciousness." False consciousness occurs when a dominant social group shapes the beliefs and desires of a subordinate group in such a way that the subordinates act for the benefit of the dominants, but against their own interests. In this paper, I grant that some moral norms èmerge or persist because of false consciousness. However, I shall argue that these norms actually have the function of impartially promoting the interests of all persons in their range of application. Even if the actual effect of false consciousness norms is to benefit a powerful class while being harmful and discriminatory toward others, the true function of false consciousness norms is the intended effect that they were designed to have. And the crucial feature of false consciousness norms is that their designers-particularly subordinates-teach, preach, follow, and enforce them with the intention of promoting the mutual interests of everyone to whom the norms apply.