What is "callicles"

Callicles (; ; c. 484 – late 5th century BCE) was an ancient Athenian political philosopher best remembered for his role in Plato’s dialogue Gorgias, where he "presents himself as a no-holds-barred, bare-knuckled, clear-headed advocate of Realpolitik." While he provides a counter-argument to Plato’s philosophical ideas, there is belief that he may be no more than a character created by Plato for the dialogue. Another idea proposed is that Callicles is a fragment of what Plato may be, did he not have Socrates to guide him. He is the antithesis to Socrates.

Callicles is depicted as a young student of the sophist Gorgias. In the dialogue named for his teacher, he argues the position of an oligarchic amoralism, stating that it is natural and just for the strong to dominate the weak and that it is unfair for the weak to resist such oppression by establishing laws to limit the power of the strong. He asserts that the institutions and moral code of his time were not established by gods but by men who naturally were looking after their own interests.

Despite the scant surviving sources for his thought, he served as influential to modern political philosophy, notably including Friedrich Nietzsche.