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Hannan Dissertation Final Version The Socratic Paradoxes and Plato’s Epistemology Natalie Hannan Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2021 © 2021 Natalie Hannan All Rights Reserved Abstract The Socratic Paradoxes and Plato’s Epistemology Natalie Hannan Plato’s “Socratic paradoxes” state that no one does wrong voluntarily and that virtue is knowledge. Outside of moral psychology, the importance of the Socratic paradoxes has been neglected. My dissertation defends two related proposals that showcase their importance in ancient epistemology. The first proposal is that they are a major motivation for Plato to develop a unique view of epistēmē (knowledge or understanding) as an infallible and robust cognitive power that is set over a special class of objects. The second proposal is that understanding the influence of the Socratic paradoxes can help us see how epistēmē improves our doxai (beliefs or opinions) about the world around us, solving a long-standing problem in Plato’s epistemology. I will start by examining the Hippias Minor, in which we see Plato seeking to embrace the Socratic paradoxes (rather than already assuming them) and looking to develop his notion of epistēmē as a result. I will then move to the Protagoras, in order to show Plato proceeding with this project by embracing epistēmē as something that produces good action and involves measurement. I will show the Protagoras’ picture to be fully developed in the Republic, in which epistēmē emerges as something that measures the truth of our doxai and has clear practical benefits as a result. Finally, I will compare this account to Aristotle’s treatment of virtue and epistēmē in the Eudemian Ethics, in order to consider the legacy of the Socratic paradoxes after Plato. Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... iv Introduction: The Socratic Paradoxes and Plato’s Epistemology ................................................ 1 Overview ................................................................................................................................ 1 The Socratic Paradoxes ........................................................................................................... 2 Epistēmē ................................................................................................................................. 5 Chronology and Philosophical Development ......................................................................... 10 Summary of Dissertation Chapters ........................................................................................ 11 Chapter 1: Knowledge and Voluntary Injustice in the Hippias Minor ........................................ 16 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 16 The Superiority of the Voluntary Wrongdoer ........................................................................ 19 Socrates’ and Hippias’ Πλάνη ............................................................................................... 23 Justice and SVW ................................................................................................................... 28 Hippias and the Socratic Paradox .......................................................................................... 33 Knowledge and Voluntary Injustice ...................................................................................... 39 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 44 Chapter II: Virtue and Epistēmē in the Protagoras ................................................................... 46 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 46 Overview of the Passage ....................................................................................................... 48 Denial of Akrasia .................................................................................................................. 52 Epistēmē of Measurement ..................................................................................................... 56 i The Pleasant is the Good: Hedonism in the Protagoras and Recent Interpretations .............. 63 Pleasure and the Good Life ................................................................................................... 67 The Double Argument .......................................................................................................... 75 The Socratic Paradoxes and the Measuring Epistēmē ............................................................ 80 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................... 85 Chapter III: Truth and Doxa in the Republic ............................................................................ 87 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 87 Truth and the Socratic Paradoxes .......................................................................................... 90 True Lies and Useful Falsehoods .......................................................................................... 94 Truth, Forms, and the Gods ................................................................................................... 97 Doxai and the Truth ............................................................................................................ 103 Two Worlds and the Measuring Epistēmē ........................................................................... 108 Epistēmē, Calculation, and Modeling .................................................................................. 115 The Socratic Paradoxes and the Measuring Epistēmē, Again ............................................... 118 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 121 Chapter IV: The Eudemian Ethics on Why Virtue Is Not Epistēmē ........................................ 123 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 123 Eudemian Ethics VIII.1: Overview and Puzzles ................................................................. 125 Contrary-Use Capacities in Metaphysics Θ ......................................................................... 128 Epistēmē as a Contrary-Use Capacity in Eudemian Ethics VIII.1 ........................................ 132 Virtue, Phronēsis, and Control ............................................................................................ 135 Akrasia and Wise Foolishness ............................................................................................. 139 The Common Books and Aristotle’s Development of Epistēmē........................................... 144 ii Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 152 Conclusions and New Directions ............................................................................................ 154 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 157 iii Acknowledgements Many wonderful people were instrumental in bringing this dissertation to completion, and though these brief acknowledgements can hardly do them justice, it is a joy to be able to thank them here. It is difficult to overstate the advice and insights I have gained from Katja Vogt, both regarding this dissertation and throughout my time at Columbia. I had the good fortune of meeting her as a curious undergraduate and I have benefited from her mentorship ever since. Her enthusiasm and diligence towards her students are unparalleled in the field. I am exceedingly grateful for the opportunity to have grown philosophically and personally as a result of her guidance and for the thriving and collegial community of ancient philosophy graduate students that she has created at Columbia. I am thankful to Dhananjay Jagannathan for being a tireless force for ancient philosophy at Columbia, and I have benefited greatly from his numerous reading groups, exceptional teaching, and generous mentorship. My chapter on the Eudemian Ethics was made possible through many meetings in the summer of 2018, in which we attempted to untangle the philological and philosophical puzzles of the text. John Morrison has been a cherished mentor and teacher throughout my time at Columbia, and I am grateful to him for agreeing to serve on my committee and offering the insights that come with a non-ancient perspective. Thanks as well to Iakovos Vasiliou and Whitney Schwab, who so kindly served on my examining committee and offered many helpful comments, not only on the dissertation itself but also through conversations about these issues for many years. I have been lucky enough to have presented parts of the first three chapters to helpful audiences, whose questions and feedback have greatly improved each one. For Chapter 1, I am iv grateful to audiences at the 43rd Ancient Philosophy
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