Socrates, Pleasure, and Value - Hardcover

Rudebusch, George

 
9780195128550: Socrates, Pleasure, and Value
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0195128559 ISBN 13: 9780195128550
Publisher: OUP USA, 1999

Synopsis

Plato's early Socratic dialogues on the nature of virtue, knowledge, and the good life stand at the core of Western ethical thought. Yet, basic questions about these dialogues and about Socrate's positions in them remain the subject of continual debate, largely because of the inconsistent nature of many of Socrates's statements.

Perhaps the most divisive questions are those surrounding Socrates's position on hedonism, the view that the good is, at bottom, a matter of pleasure. In this work, George Rudebusch addresses whether Socrates was a hedonist. Rudebusch claims that this issue is so basic that, unless it is resolved, no adequate assessment of the Socratic dialogues' place in the history of philosophy can be made. In attempting to determine Socrates's position, Rudebusch examines the passages of Plato's early dialogues that are most important to this controversy and draws important distinctions between two kinds of pleasure and between hedonism and Protagoreanism. His conclusion, that Socrates was a "modal hedonist", rather than a "sensate pleasure" hedonist, is supported by some very original readings of the early dialogues.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review

The issues it addresses ... are central to the concerns of most undergraduate and graduate courses on Plato's early and middle dialogues, and so I expect there would be a wide audience for it. (Susan Sauve Meyer, Department of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania)

Tackles one of the most fundamental questions for understanding Socratic ethics in Plato's earlier dialogues ... it will be widely read and stir up quite a bit of discussion. (Gerasimos Santas, Department of Philosophy, University of California at Irvine)

Synopsis

Plato's early Socratic dialogues on the nature of virtue, knowledge, and the good life stand at the core of Western ethical thought. Yet, basic questions about these dialogues and about Socrate's positions in them remain the subject of continual debate, largely because of the inconsistent nature of many of Socrates's statements. Perhaps the most divisive questions are those surrounding Socrates's position on hedonism, the view that the good is, at bottom, a matter of pleasure. In this work, George Rudebusch addresses whether Socrates was a hedonist. Rudebusch claims that this issue is so basic that, unless it is resolved, no adequate assessment of the Socratic dialogues' place in the history of philosophy can be made. In attempting to determine Socrates's position, Rudebusch examines the passages of Plato's early dialogues that are most important to this controversy and draws important distinctions between two kinds of pleasure and between hedonism and Protagoreanism. His conclusion, that Socrates was a "modal hedonist", rather than a "sensate pleasure" hedonist, is supported by some very original readings of the early dialogues.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
OUP USA
Publication date
1999
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0195128559
ISBN 13 
9780195128550
Binding
Hardcover
Number of pages
192

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780195159615: Socrates, Pleasure, and Value

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  0195159616 ISBN 13:  9780195159615
Publisher: Oxford University Press USA, 1999
Softcover