Title: The problem of teaching virtue between the Protagoras and the Phaedrus
Source document: Pro-Fil. 2024, vol. 25, iss. 1, pp. 25-37
Extent
25-37
-
ISSN1212-9097 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/pf24-1-35740
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/digilib.80415
Type: Article
Language
License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International
Rights access
open access
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
Socrates' final argument in the Protagoras is premised on the surprising identification of the pleasant with the good and argues that virtue is the "art of measurement" that can be easily taught to the Many. The view that virtue can be taught is also espoused by Socrates elsewhere, notably in the Phaedrus. However, while the Protagoras identifies virtue with the art of calculating the greatest pleasure, which is identified with the greatest good, in the Phaedrus virtue is shown to consist in the ceaseless search for the good. I argue that the picture of virtue presented in the Protagoras is in agreement with that of the Phaedrus in that the Protagoras depicts the first stage of the process of learning genuine virtue, which is outlined as a whole in the Phaedrus. The argument of the Protagoras then works as a protreptic: it teaches an elementary way of thinking about the ends of one's actions and opens up the way toward genuine virtue.
Note
This work was produced at the Institute of Philosophy, Slovak Academy of Sciences, as part of the grant project APVV-20-0137 – Filozofická antropológia v kontexte súčasných kríz symbolických štruktúr.
References
[1] Benardete, S. (1991): The Rhetoric of Morality and Philosophy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
[2] Burger, R. (1980): Plato's Phaedrus: A Defense of a Philosophic Art of Writing. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press.
[3] Callard, A.G. (2014): Ignorance and Akrasia-Denial in the Protagoras, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 47(1), 31–80.
[4] Cooper, J.M. (1997). Introduction, in Cooper, J. M. – Hutchinson, D. S. (eds.) Plato: Complete Works, Indianapolis: Hackett, vii–xxvi.
[5] Irwin, T. (1995): Plato's Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[6] Kahn, C. (2003): Socrates and Hedonism in: Havlíček, A. – Karfík, F. (eds.), Plato's Protagoras: Proceedings of the Third Symposium Platonicum Pragense, Prague: Oikoymenh, 165–74.
[7] Lampert, L. (2010): How Philosophy Became Socratic: A Study of Plato's Protagoras, Charmides, and Republic. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
[8] Landy, T. (1994): Virtue, Art, and the Good Life in Plato's Protagoras, Interpretation 21(3), 287–308.
[9] Moss, J. (2014): Hedonism and the Divided Soul in Plato's Protagoras, Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 96(3), 285–319.
[10] Muir, D.P.E. (2000): Friendship in Education and the Desire for the Good: An Interpretation of the Phaedrus, Educational Philosophy and Theory 32(2), 233–47.
[11] Nietzsche, F.W. (1999): Kritische Studienausgabe Bd. 3. Eds. G. Colli & M. Montinari. Berlin: De Gruyter.
[12] Patočka, J. (2002): Plato and Europe. Trans. P. Lom. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
[13] Plato. (1900 ff.): Platonis Opera (5 vols.). Ed. J. Burnet. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
[14] Plato. (1997): Complete Works. Ed. J.M. Cooper. Indianapolis: Hackett.
[15] Rider, B.A. (2012): Socrates' Philosophical Protreptic in Euthydemus 278c–282d, Archiv fur Geschichte der Philosophie 94(2), 208–28.
[16] Rowe, C.J. (2003): Hedonism in the Protagoras again: Protagoras, 351b ff., in: Havlíček, A. – Karfík, F. (eds.), Plato's Protagoras: Proceedings of the Third Symposium Platonicum Pragense, Prague: Oikoymenh, 133–47.
[17] Roochnik, D. (1996): Of Art and Wisdom: Plato's Understanding of Techne. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press.
[18] Taylor, C.C.W. (2003): The Hedonism of the Protagoras Reconsidered, in: Havlíček, A. – Karfík, F. (eds.), Plato's Protagoras: Proceedings of the Third Symposium Platonicum Pragense, Prague: Oikoymenh, 148–64.
[19] Vlastos, G. (1969): Socrates on Acrasia, Phoenix 23(1), 71–88.
[20] Zeyl, D.J. (1980): Socrates and Hedonism: Protagoras 351b–358d, Phronesis 25(3), 250–69.
[21] Zuckert, C. (2009). Plato's Philosophers: The Coherence of the Dialogues. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
[22] Zvarík, M. (2023): The Spectrality of Shame in Plato's Menexenus, Pro-Fil – An Internet Journal of Philosophy 24(1), 23–33.
[2] Burger, R. (1980): Plato's Phaedrus: A Defense of a Philosophic Art of Writing. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press.
[3] Callard, A.G. (2014): Ignorance and Akrasia-Denial in the Protagoras, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 47(1), 31–80.
[4] Cooper, J.M. (1997). Introduction, in Cooper, J. M. – Hutchinson, D. S. (eds.) Plato: Complete Works, Indianapolis: Hackett, vii–xxvi.
[5] Irwin, T. (1995): Plato's Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[6] Kahn, C. (2003): Socrates and Hedonism in: Havlíček, A. – Karfík, F. (eds.), Plato's Protagoras: Proceedings of the Third Symposium Platonicum Pragense, Prague: Oikoymenh, 165–74.
[7] Lampert, L. (2010): How Philosophy Became Socratic: A Study of Plato's Protagoras, Charmides, and Republic. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
[8] Landy, T. (1994): Virtue, Art, and the Good Life in Plato's Protagoras, Interpretation 21(3), 287–308.
[9] Moss, J. (2014): Hedonism and the Divided Soul in Plato's Protagoras, Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 96(3), 285–319.
[10] Muir, D.P.E. (2000): Friendship in Education and the Desire for the Good: An Interpretation of the Phaedrus, Educational Philosophy and Theory 32(2), 233–47.
[11] Nietzsche, F.W. (1999): Kritische Studienausgabe Bd. 3. Eds. G. Colli & M. Montinari. Berlin: De Gruyter.
[12] Patočka, J. (2002): Plato and Europe. Trans. P. Lom. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
[13] Plato. (1900 ff.): Platonis Opera (5 vols.). Ed. J. Burnet. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
[14] Plato. (1997): Complete Works. Ed. J.M. Cooper. Indianapolis: Hackett.
[15] Rider, B.A. (2012): Socrates' Philosophical Protreptic in Euthydemus 278c–282d, Archiv fur Geschichte der Philosophie 94(2), 208–28.
[16] Rowe, C.J. (2003): Hedonism in the Protagoras again: Protagoras, 351b ff., in: Havlíček, A. – Karfík, F. (eds.), Plato's Protagoras: Proceedings of the Third Symposium Platonicum Pragense, Prague: Oikoymenh, 133–47.
[17] Roochnik, D. (1996): Of Art and Wisdom: Plato's Understanding of Techne. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press.
[18] Taylor, C.C.W. (2003): The Hedonism of the Protagoras Reconsidered, in: Havlíček, A. – Karfík, F. (eds.), Plato's Protagoras: Proceedings of the Third Symposium Platonicum Pragense, Prague: Oikoymenh, 148–64.
[19] Vlastos, G. (1969): Socrates on Acrasia, Phoenix 23(1), 71–88.
[20] Zeyl, D.J. (1980): Socrates and Hedonism: Protagoras 351b–358d, Phronesis 25(3), 250–69.
[21] Zuckert, C. (2009). Plato's Philosophers: The Coherence of the Dialogues. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
[22] Zvarík, M. (2023): The Spectrality of Shame in Plato's Menexenus, Pro-Fil – An Internet Journal of Philosophy 24(1), 23–33.