Read the excerpt from Levitt and Dubner’s Freakonomics . There is a tale, “The Ring of Gyges,” that Feldman sometimes tells his economist friends. It comes from Plato’s Republic . A student named Glaucon offered the story in response to a lesson by Socrates—who, like Adam Smith, argued that people are generally good even without enforcement. Glaucon, like Feldman’s economist friends, disagreed. He told of a shepherd named Gyges who stumbled upon a secret cavern with a corpse inside that wore a ring. When Gyges put on the ring, he found that it made him invisible. With no one able to monitor his behavior, Gyges proceeded to do woeful things—seduce the queen, murder the king, and so on. Glaucon’s story posed a moral question: could any man resist the temptation of evil if he knew his acts could not be witnessed? Glaucon seemed to think the answer was no. But Paul Feldman sides with Socrates and Adam Smith—for he knows the answer, at least 87 percent of the time, is yes. The example in the excerpt helps the authors arrive at which of the following conclusions?
Answer
A
The majority of people are corrupt.
B
Socrates and Adam Smith were wrong.
C
Glaucon and Paul Feldman were wrong.
D
The majority of people are honest.
Explanation
The story asks whether people would behave immorally if they could act without being watched. Glaucon predicts they would, but Feldman’s experience suggests that at least 87 percent of people resist that temptation. This supports the conclusion that the majority of people are honest, rather than Glaucon’s view that people would choose evil.
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