The dialogue lacks a section on justice – one of the four virtues according to Plato and Aristotle (justice, fortitude, prudence and temperance). Several scholars believe the work to be incomplete, with the final part being lost; possibly, though, the author may have intended the work to end as we have it, and given up following through with his paradoxical argumentation, in order to propose a philosophical reflexion on the differences between beasts and men.