PANTHEON
ExploreBuild My Library
© 2026 Pantheon — an atlas of the ideas that shaped how we think.
person~400 BCE

Callicles

Disciplines:
philosophy
power
ancient history/athenian politics

Summary

Athenian political figure and Socrates's most formidable opponent in Plato's Gorgias — arguing that the strong should rule the weak, that conventional justice is a slave morality invented by the weak to constrain the naturally superior — anticipating Nietzsche's master morality by 2,400 years.

Core Contribution

Articulates the most coherent case for natural right against conventional justice — nature itself reveals that the strong should have more than the weak, that philosophy is fine for the young but becomes contemptible in a man who refuses to enter the arena of political life — making the Callicles challenge the deepest critique Socrates faces.

Historical Influences

Athenian political culture

Intellectual Lineage

Athens

Contemporaries & Peers

Socrates Thrasymachus

Minds Influenced

Nietzsche Jonathan Bi

Intellectual Posterity

Callicles as Nietzsche's anticipationNatural right argumentGorgias dialogue

Discussing

Callicles

Ask anything about Callicles — their ideas, influences, contradictions, legacy.

Sign in to start a conversation.