DOCSLIB.ORG

Protagoras Free

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Protagoras Free FREE PROTAGORAS PDF Plato,C. C. W. Taylor | 128 pages | 14 Sep 2009 | Oxford University Press | 9780199555659 | English | Oxford, United Kingdom Historia y biografía de Protágoras Protagoras Protagoras article by Carol Poster is Protagoras unusually thorough treatment of this important philosopher. From The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Protagoras B. A concise and varied Protagoras of the philosopher. Philosophical Background Protagoras the Fifth Protagoras B. An excellent outline of the historical Protagoras political context and impact of the sophists. The Philosophy of the Sophists A thoughtful article with related resources from the Radical Academy which explicity opposes relativism. Relativism A detailed and accessible study of relativism in its various forms by Chris Swoyer University Protagoras Oklahoma from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. It is long, but no longer than it Protagoras be to summarize this vital topic. Have you heard or used the above claims before? Like many commonplaces in language and culture, you can trace these claims back to a philosophical source. Protagoras pro-TAG-er-us of Abdera, a contemporary of Socratesis credited with the first formal statement and defense of these claims and is the first proponent of the philosophical view known today as Protagoras. Protagoras was a sophist. The sophists Protagoras self-proclaimed teachers who travelled the Greek cities offering to teach young men Protagoras such as Protagoras and public speaking. These were extreemly useful skills in a quasi-democracy such as Athens, where the ability to persuade the majority could lead to political and economic power. Some sophists claimed to be able to teach knowledge, wisdom, and virtue, apparently on the basis that such qualities were defined by majority opinion hence, if you can convince the majority that you are wise, then you are wise. Aristotle credits Protagoras for the grammatical rule of classifying nouns by gender [ Rhetoric b]. Aristotle criticizes Protagoras for teaching techniques for "making the weaker argument appear the stronger. Even today, more than 2, years later, scholars Protagoras to reinterpret the meaning and implications of Protagoras Protagorean philosophy. To start such Protagoras investigation Protagoras is necessary to consider how Aristotle and Plato reacted to Protagoras' ideas. Next - learn more about the Duo Logoi problem. Everything is relative. There are two sides to everything. References Protagoras This article by Carol Poster is an unusually thorough treatment of this important philosopher. Protagoras Everything is relative. Protagoras | Greek philosopher | Britannica Protagoras c. Along Protagoras his rough Protagoras Gorgiashe is considered Protagoras of the major figures in the philosophical school of SophismProtagoras Plato credits him with Protagoras invented the role of the professional Sophist or teacher of virtue. He is also sometimes known as the father of Relativism and of Agnosticism. Hints in Plato 's dialogue "Protagoras" suggests Protagoras date of birth not later than B. He traveled around Greece for some years earning his living primarily as a teacher and advisorbefore settling in Athens. He was well-known there, and became Protagoras friend of the prominent Athenian statesman Protagoras c. Pericles Protagoras invited him to write the constitution for the newly-founded Athenian colony Protagoras Thurii in B. Protagoras was probably Protagoras first Greek to earn money in higher education and he was Protagoras for the extremely high fees Protagoras charged. His teaching included such general areas as public speakingcriticism of poetrycitizenship and grammar. His teaching methods consisted primarily Protagoras lecturesincluding model Protagorasanalyses of poemsdiscussions of Protagoras the meanings and correct uses of wordsand general rules of rhetoric and oratory. His audience consisted mainly of wealthy men from Athens' social and commercial elites. Many later Protagoras developed around the life of Protagoras which are probably falseincluding Protagoras concerning his having studied with DemocritusProtagoras trial for impiety and Atheismthe burning of his books, his flight from Athens to Sicily and his death Protagoras drowning. In Plato 's dialogue "Meno"Protagoras is said to have Protagoras at Protagoras the age of 70, after 40 years as a practicing Sophistwhich would Protagoras his death circa B. Protagoras apparently wrote many worksthe two of which we have definite knowledge being "Aletheia" "Truth" and "Peri Theon" "On the Gods". Unfortunately, none of his Protagoras have survived the destruction of the ages. Although almost a contemporary of ProtagorasProtagoras is considered a Pre-Socratic thinker, as he followed Protagoras the Protagoras tradition of criticismrather than the more demonstrative method of Socrates and his followers, Plato and Aristotle. However, he did contribute to philosophy a method of finding a Protagoras argument by discarding the Protagoras viable one known as "antilogy". His claim Protagoras be able to "make the worse case the better " was a useful Protagoras skill in the extremely litigious quasi-democracy of Athens, but it also had the potential for promoting what most Athenians considered Protagoras or immoralityand led to an increasing distrust of Sophism. Although quoted out of context in a later work, his most famous saying is originally Protagoras his "Truth" Protagoras "Man is the measure of all things: of things which are, that they are, and of things which are not, that they are not". These are both succinct statements of the doctrine of Relativism that nothing is exclusively good or bad, true or false, and that there is no general or objective truthand more specifically Moral Relativism. His notion that judgments and knowledge are in some way relative to the person judging or knowing and indeed that there are as many distinct scales of good and evil as there are individuals in the worldProtagoras has come to be known as Ethical Subjectivismhas been very influential and is still widely discussed in contemporary philosophy. In his lost work "On the Gods"Protagoras wrote: "Concerning the gods, I Protagoras no Protagoras of knowing whether they exist or not or of what sort they may Protagoras, because of the obscurity of the subject, and the brevity Protagoras human life". This rather bold admission of Agnosticismwas no doubt quite shocking in his day. See the additional sources and recommended reading list below, or check the philosophy books page for a full list. Whenever possible, I linked to books with my amazon affiliate code, and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Purchasing from these links helps to keep the website running, and I am grateful for your support! A huge subject broken down into manageable chunks. Protagoras Philosophy Protagoras :. Back to Top. Protagoras Books. If you quote this material please be courteous and provide a link. Great Philosophers: Protagoras and The Theaetetus Protagoras of Abdera was one of Protagoras fifth century Greek thinkers including also Gorgias, Hippias, and Prodicus collectively known as the Older Sophistsa group of traveling teachers or intellectuals who were experts in Protagoras the science of oratory and related subjects. While some Protagoras sources claim that these positions led to his having been tried for impiety in Protagoras and his books burned, these stories may well have Protagoras later legends. Historically, it was in response to Protagoras Protagoras his fellow sophists that Plato began the search Protagoras transcendent forms Protagoras knowledge which could somehow anchor moral judgment. Along with the other Older Sophists and Socrates, Protagoras was part of a shift in philosophical focus from the earlier Presocratic tradition of natural Protagoras to an interest in human philosophy. He emphasized how human subjectivity determines Protagoras way we understand, Protagoras even construct, our world, a position which is Protagoras an essential part Protagoras the Protagoras philosophic tradition. Our main sources of information concerning Protagoras are:. By the Protagoras century the term becomes more specialized, limited to those who taught rhetoric, specifically the Protagoras to speak in assemblies or law courts. Whether these figures actually had some common body Protagoras doctrines is uncertain. At times scholars have tended to lump them together in a group, and attribute to them all a combination of Protagoras skepticism, skill in argument, epistemological and moral relativism, and a certain degree of intellectual unscrupulousness. These characteristics, though, were probably more typical of their fourth century followers than of the Older Sophists themselves, who tended to agree with and follow generally accepted Protagoras codes, even while Protagoras more abstract speculations undermined the epistemological foundations of traditional morality. He was born in approximately B. He traveled around Greece earning his living primarily as a teacher and Protagoras advisor and lived in Athens for several years, where he associated with Pericles and other rich and influential Athenians. Pericles invited him to write the constitution for the newly founded Athenian colony of Thurii in B. Protagoras later legends developed around the life of Protagoras which are probably false, including stories concerning his having studied with Democritus, his trial for impiety, the burning of his books, and his flight from Athens. Protagoras
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Against Hedonist Interpretations of Plato's Protagoras
    Binghamton University The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB) The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter 2-19-2010 Against Hedonist Interpretations of Plato's Protagoras J. Clerk Shaw University of Tennessee, Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://orb.binghamton.edu/sagp Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Ancient Philosophy Commons, and the History of Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Shaw, J. Clerk, "Against Hedonist Interpretations of Plato's Protagoras" (2010). The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter. 384. https://orb.binghamton.edu/sagp/384 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). It has been accepted for inclusion in The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter by an authorized administrator of The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). For more information, please contact [email protected]. Shaw Central 2010 p. 1 AGAINST HEDONIST INTERPRETATIONS OF PLATO’S PROTAGORAS J. CLERK SHAW, UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE In the debate over whether Socrates endorses hedonism in Plato’s Protagoras, each side has its standard arguments. Those who think he does (hereafter “pro-hedonists”)1 frequently argue that their view stays closer to the text. On this view, there are clear textual indications that Socrates endorses hedonism, and the hypothesis that he does best explains why he introduces the view unprompted.2 Their opponents (“anti-hedonists”) typically argue that attributing hedonism to Socrates makes the Protagoras fit poorly with other Platonic dialogues in which Socrates explicitly argues against hedonism,3 so that we should avoid attributing it to him if at all possible.
    [Show full text]
  • Glaucon's Dilemma. the Origins of Social Order
    [Working draft. Please do not circulate or cite without author’s permission] Glaucon’s Dilemma. The origins of social order. Josiah Ober Chapter 2 of The Greeks and the Rational (book-in-progress, provisional title) Draft of 2019.09.20 Word count: 17,200. Abstract: The long Greek tradition of political thought understood that cooperation among multiple individuals was an imperative for human survival. The tradition (here represented by passages from Plato’s Republic, Gorgias, and Protagoras, and from Diodorus of Sicily’s universal history) also recognized social cooperation as a problem in need of a solution in light of instrumental rationality and self-interest, strategic behavior, and the option of free riding on the cooperation of others. Ancient “anthropological” theories of the origins of human cooperation proposed solutions to the problem of cooperation by varying the assumed motivations of agents and postulating repeated interactions with communication and learning. The ways that Greek writers conceived the origins of social order as a problem of rational cooperation can be modeled as strategic games: as variants of the non-cooperative Prisoners Dilemma and cooperative Stag Hunt games and as repeated games with incomplete information and updating. In book 2 of the Republic Plato’s Glaucon offered a carefully crafted philosophical challenge, in the form of a narrative thought experiment, to Socrates’ position that justice is supremely choice-worthy, the top-ranked preference of a truly rational person. Seeking to improve the immoralist argument urged by Thrasymachus in Republic book 1 (in order to give Socrates the opportunity to refute the best form of that argument), Glaucon told a tale of Gyges and his ring of invisibility.1 In chapter 1, I suggested that Glaucon’s story illustrated a pure form of rational and self-interested behavior, through revealed preferences when the ordinary constraints of uncertainty, enforceable social conventions, and others’ strategic choices were absent.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter Three: the Socratic Elenchus and Practical Concerns
    Chapter Three: The Socratic Elenchus and Practical Concerns 1. Socrates’ Practical Orientation In the Tusculan Disputations, Cicero writes: But from the ancient days down to the time of Socrates, who had listened to Archelaus the pupil of Anaxagoras, philosophy dealt with numbers and movements, with the problem whence all things came, or whither they returned, and zealously inquired into the size of the stars, the spaces that divided them, their courses and all celestial phenomena. Socrates on the other hand was the first to call down philosophy from the heavens and set her in the cities of men and bring her also into their homes and compel her to ask questions about life and morality and things good and evil. (5.4.10) Cicero’s comment may be dubious philosophical history, but it does point to a genuine contrast between the Socrates of Plato’s early dialogues and certain of the Presocratics. To put it quite generally, this Socrates is interested first and foremost in practical concerns, in how best we might live our lives, as opposed to purely theoretical concerns, issues of cosmology and astronomy that have no direct bearing upon matters of general, everyday interest. How can we understand the philosophical activity of the Socrates of Plato’s early dialogues in light of this contrast? How can we thus understand the Protagoras? 2. Socrates and Experts In the Apology (Plato’s portrayal of Socrates’ defense while on trial), Socrates describes the philosophical activity that occupied him for much of his adult life and will shortly lead to his conviction and execution on charges of impiety and corrupting the young.
    [Show full text]
  • Plato's Symposium: the Ethics of Desire
    Plato’s Symposium: The Ethics of Desire FRISBEE C. C. SHEFFIELD 1 Contents Introduction 1 1. Ero¯s and the Good Life 8 2. Socrates’ Speech: The Nature of Ero¯s 40 3. Socrates’ Speech: The Aim of Ero¯s 75 4. Socrates’ Speech: The Activity of Ero¯s 112 5. Socrates’ Speech: Concern for Others? 154 6. ‘Nothing to do with Human AVairs?’: Alcibiades’ Response to Socrates 183 7. Shadow Lovers: The Symposiasts and Socrates 207 Conclusion 225 Appendix : Socratic Psychology or Tripartition in the Symposium? 227 References 240 Index 249 Introduction In the Symposium Plato invites us to imagine the following scene: A pair of lovers are locked in an embrace and Hephaestus stands over them with his mending tools asking: ‘What is it that you human beings really want from each other?’ The lovers are puzzled, and he asks them again: ‘Is this your heart’s desire, for the two of you to become parts of the same whole, and never to separate, day or night? If that is your desire, I’d like to weld you together and join you into something whole, so that the two of you are made into one. Look at your love and see if this is what you desire: wouldn’t this be all that you want?’ No one, apparently, would think that mere sex is the reason each lover takes such deep joy in being with the other. The soul of each lover apparently longs for something else, but cannot say what it is. The beloved holds out the promise of something beyond itself, but that something lovers are unable to name.1 Hephaestus’ question is a pressing one.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Arrangement of the Platonic Dialogues
    Ryan C. Fowler 25th Hour On the Arrangement of the Platonic Dialogues I. Thrasyllus a. Diogenes Laertius (D.L.), Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers 3.56: “But, just as long ago in tragedy the chorus was the only actor, and afterwards, in order to give the chorus breathing space, Thespis devised a single actor, Aeschylus a second, Sophocles a third, and thus tragedy was completed, so too with philosophy: in early times it discoursed on one subject only, namely physics, then Socrates added the second subject, ethics, and Plato the third, dialectics, and so brought philosophy to perfection. Thrasyllus says that he [Plato] published his dialogues in tetralogies, like those of the tragic poets. Thus they contended with four plays at the Dionysia, the Lenaea, the Panathenaea and the festival of Chytri. Of the four plays the last was a satiric drama; and the four together were called a tetralogy.” b. Characters or types of dialogues (D.L. 3.49): 1. instructive (ὑφηγητικός) A. theoretical (θεωρηµατικόν) a. physical (φυσικόν) b. logical (λογικόν) B. practical (πρακτικόν) a. ethical (ἠθικόν) b. political (πολιτικόν) 2. investigative (ζητητικός) A. training the mind (γυµναστικός) a. obstetrical (µαιευτικός) b. tentative (πειραστικός) B. victory in controversy (ἀγωνιστικός) a. critical (ἐνδεικτικός) b. subversive (ἀνατρεπτικός) c. Thrasyllan categories of the dialogues (D.L. 3.50-1): Physics: Timaeus Logic: Statesman, Cratylus, Parmenides, and Sophist Ethics: Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Symposium, Menexenus, Clitophon, the Letters, Philebus, Hipparchus, Rivals Politics: Republic, the Laws, Minos, Epinomis, Atlantis Obstetrics: Alcibiades 1 and 2, Theages, Lysis, Laches Tentative: Euthyphro, Meno, Io, Charmides and Theaetetus Critical: Protagoras Subversive: Euthydemus, Gorgias, and Hippias 1 and 2 :1 d.
    [Show full text]
  • The Lesson of Plato's Symposium
    University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2005 Eros, Paideia and Arête: The Lesson of Plato’s Symposium Jason St. John Oliver Campbell University of South Florida Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons Scholar Commons Citation Campbell, Jason St. John Oliver, "Eros, Paideia and Arête: The Lesson of Plato’s Symposium" (2005). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/2806 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Eros, Paideia and Arête: The Lesson of Plato’s Symposium by Jason St. John Oliver Campbell A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Masters of Arts Department of Philosophy College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Joanne B. Waugh Ph.D. Charles Guignon, Ph.D. Martin Schöenfeld, Ph.D. Date of Approval: April 14, 2005 Keywords: Ancient Greece, Socrates, Education, Pedagogy, Sunousia © 2005, Jason St. John Oliver Campbell Acknowledgments I wish to extend a debt of gratitude to Professor Joanne B. Waugh for her continued dedication throughout the completion of this thesis. Table of Contents Abstract ii General Introduction 1 Chapter One 4 Introduction 4 Mousikē: The First Component
    [Show full text]
  • Robert C. Bartlett, Trans., Plato: “Protagoras” and “Meno.” Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2004, 155 Pp., $12.50 Paper
    Book Review: Plato: “Protagoras” and “Meno” 291 Robert C. Bartlett, trans., Plato: “Protagoras” and “Meno.” Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2004, 155 pp., $12.50 paper. A NDREA L. KOWALCHUK UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS [email protected] Robert Bartlett’s Plato: “Protagoras” and “Meno” is a significant contribution to Platonic scholarship. His thoughtful translations are literal without being awkward, and consistent regarding words of philosophic importance. Where there are problems with the manuscripts, discrepancies are indicated, and where there are words that can be variously translated, alternatives are supplied. Notes regarding context, background, definitions, people, and history are also helpful without being burdensome. The interpretive essays are terse and brief, yet dense and full of penetrating questions, suggestions, and insights. Even for those who might disagree with Bartlett’s interpretations, these essays are valuable since they constitute a challenge to more generally accepted views of Platonic psychology, morality, and, ultimately, of the Platonic approach to philosophy simply. What emerges most prominently from Bartlett’s treatments of the two dialogues is the careful and consistent focus on the two title characters, in and through which we gain wonderful insight into the moral self-understanding (or lack thereof) of both Protagoras and Meno. Bartlett’s analysis brings to life, respectively, a sophist and a future criminal (and with less emphasis, a future accuser of Socrates in Anytus), by sifting through and illuminating the particular qualities of each character’s moral confusion, which he also shows to be connected with each man’s view of the cosmos. As the source or sources of their respective confusions come to sight, we are led further into the question of the philosopher’s relationship to virtue, and into the unifying question of the two dialogues: whether virtue can be taught—an “apparently epistemolog- ical question [that] is (also) a thoroughly political one” (138).
    [Show full text]
  • What Eros and Anamnesis Can Tell Us About Knowledge of Virtue in Plato's Protagoras, Symposium, and Meno Rebecca Vendetti Supe
    What Eros and Anamnesis Can Tell us about Knowledge of Virtue in Plato’s Protagoras, Symposium, and Meno Rebecca Vendetti Supervisor: Francisco Gonzalez Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the MA degree in philosophy Department of Philosophy Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Rebecca Vendetti, Ottawa, Canada, 2012 I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research was partially funded by the Federal Government of Canada in the form of a SSHRC Master’s scholarship, and the University of Ottawa in the form of an excellence and an admission scholarship. I would also like to thank my thesis supervisor for providing me with numerous valuable textual resources as well as the inspiration for this project. II ABSTRACT The goal of this thesis is ultimately to answer the two questions raised and left unresolved in Plato’s Protagoras: What is virtue? Is virtue teachable? Following the dramatic order of Plato’s dialogues as outlined by Catherine Zuckert, I intend to show that the Meno returns to the issues raised and left unresolved in the Protagoras, but now with the idea of recollection. My intention is to look at how the idea of recollection, developed and associated with eros in the intervening dialogues, can help explain the nature of virtue and its teachability. I believe that we can come to answer both questions, “What is virtue?” and “Is virtue teachable?” posed in the Protagoras and the Meno by drawing on the ideas of anamnesis and eros as they appear in the Meno, Phaedrus, and Symposium. III TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction……………………………………………………………………1 I.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ascent from Nominalism Philosophical Studies Series
    THE ASCENT FROM NOMINALISM PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES SERIES Editors: WILFRID SELLARS, University of Pittsburgh KEITH LEHRER, University of Arizona Board of Consulting Editors: J ON A THAN BENNETT, Syracuse University ALLAN GIBBARD, University of Michigan ROBERT STALNAKER, Cornell University ROBERT G. TURNBULL, Ohio State University VOLUME 37 TERR Y PENNER Department of Philosophy, The University of Wisconsin at Madison, U.S.A. THE ASCENT FROM NOMINALISM Some Existence Arguments in Plato's Middle Dialogues D. REIDEL PUBLISHING COMPANY ~~ A MEMBER OF THE KLUWER . ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS GROUP DORDRECHTj BOSTONj LANCASTERjTOKYO Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Penner, Terry, 1936- The ascent from nominalism. (Philosophical studies series; v. 37) Bibliography: p. Includes indexes. 1. Plato. 2. Aristotle. 3. Metaphysics-History. 4. Nominalism-History. I. Title. II. Series. B395.P347 1987 111'.2'0924 86·31641 ISBN-13: 978-94-010-8186-3 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-009-3791-8 DOl: 10.1007/978-94-009-3791-8 Published by D. Reidel Publishing Company, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, Holland. Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada by Kluwer Academic Publishers, 101 Philip Drive, Assinippi Park, Norwell, MA 02061, U.S.A. In all other countries, sold and distributed by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, P.O. Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, Holland. All Rights Reserved © 1987 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland Softcover reprint of the hardcover I 5t edition 1987 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical induding photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Much of this work was conceived and executed between 1971 and 1975, though some of it was done much earlier, and a few bits are quite recent.
    [Show full text]
  • 168 James Warren Most Major Ancient Greek Philosophical Schools
    168 book reviews James Warren The Pleasures of Reason in Plato, Aristotle, and the Hellenistic Hedonists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. xii + 234 p. $95.00. ISBN 9781107025448 (hbk). Most major ancient Greek philosophical schools maintained that the intellec- tual life is the most pleasant life. James Warren’s clear, careful, and engaging book focuses on the way that Plato, Aristotle, and the Hellenistic hedonists championed the pleasures of the life of reason over the lives of mindless ani- mals and the profligate. Warren settles on a set of skills that mark humans off from other animals, at least by degree if not always by kind: learning, exer- cise of knowledge, memory, and anticipation. Warren twice traces the dialec- tic between the focal set of philosophers, each time chronologically. First, he addresses the pleasures of learning and knowing. He then turns to the plea- sures of anticipating and remembering. The book is primarily exegetical in nature and does not substantively weigh in on who has the best account or whether the central shared commitment is itself argumentatively sustainable. Warren’s first discussion of Plato centers on two puzzles – whether learn- ing is purely pleasant and whether using and reflecting on one’s knowledge is distinctively pleasant. Warren points out a tension in the views of pleasure in the Philebus and other key dialogues. While learning is a pure pleasure in the Philebus, learning in other dialogues (esp. Theaetetus) seems more a pain- ful struggle towards an uncertain understanding, motivated largely by the painful recognition of one’s own ignorance. Warren argues that the pains of ignorance and learning would be eliminated or minimized by the educational process of the ideal city of the Republic, though this risks overlooking the grave disappointments of those who fail to become philosophers and it does little to assuage the struggles of those outside the ideal city (i.e.
    [Show full text]
  • The Bogus Hedonism of Plato's Protagoras DRAFT the Hedonistic
    The Bogus Hedonism of Plato’s Protagoras DRAFT The hedonistic theory that is energetically presented by Socrates in the Protagoras raises both exegetical and philosophical questions. The central exegetical question are whether or not Socrates sincerely endorses hedonism, and what exactly he’s trying to say if he doesn’t. The central philosophical question is whether the hedonism he advocates (seriously or otherwise) makes sense. My main interest here will be the second question. I will try to show that the Socratic hedonism ultimately fails, but in a philosophically informative way. My suspicion is also that Plato knows that the argument fails, and so does his character Socrates, and I will revisit some aspects of the exegetical question in the course of examining the argument. We will begin by making some general points about the relationship as it was conceived in Greek philosophy between hedonism and morality, then by looking again at whether or not we have reason to doubt Socrates’ sincerity. The point of these preliminaries is to help us to see what we should be looking for as we track the argument from its premises to its surprising conclusion, that the ethical virtues can be derived from a hedonic calculus. * The toughest question to ask of any hedonistic theory is how it accommodates the virtues. Hedonism commits us to the view that the only intrinsically good thing in life is our own pleasure, and that everything else that has value only in so far as it gives us pleasure in some form. This is to be distinguished from the much weaker claim — which almost no ethical theory rejects — that pleasure is one of the things we value, and that we want our lives to be enjoyable.
    [Show full text]
  • The Religious and the Just in Plato's Euthyphro
    Ancient Philosophy 5 41 ©Mathesis Publications, Inc. The Religious and the Just in Plato's Euthyphro William S. Cobb Many traditional perplexities about Plato's dialogues can be resolved by taking the dialogue form seriously. One such puzzle is that concerning Socrates' apparent rejec­ tion in the Euthyphro of the view of the relation between the religious 1 and the just that he defends in the Protagoras. 2 I will examine this case as an illustration ofa method that attends carefully to the dialogue-form, appealing to dramatic setting and charac­ terization in interpreting the argument and noting possible ways areader might respond to the dialogue. 3 The question is: Does Plato have Socrates maintain in the Euthyphro that the reli­ gious is only apart of the just, in conflict with the claim in the Protagoras that the religious and the just are the same? It is generally assumed that he does. In the well­ known exchange between VIastos and Penner on the unity of virtue(s) which focuses on the Protagoras, both claim that Socrates holds a conflicting thesis in the Euthyphro. 4 Others have also expressed this view. S Indeed, C.C.W. Taylor has recently asserted that the claim that the religious is only apart of the just 'is not Euthyphro's hypothe­ sis, but Socrates', and must therefore be assumed to have Plato's approval'. 6 The fact that this claim conflicts with what Socrates defends in detail in the Pro­ tagoras has led some commentators to say that Plato did not intend us to see Socrates' affirmation that the religious is only part of the just in the Euthyphro as something he would defend in the final analysis; so A.E.
    [Show full text]