Plato's Socrates / Thomas C. Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-219) and indexes.

Print version record.

1. Socratic Method. 1.1. Did Socrates Have a Method? 1.2. Socrates' Elenctic Mission. 1.3. Deriving the Benefits of the Elenchos -- 2. Socratic Epistemology. 2.1. The Paradox of Socrates' "Ignorance" 2.2. Knowing How Something Is. 2.3. The Epistemological Priority of Definition. 2.4. The Procedural Priority of Definition. 2.5. Defining the Virtues and Being Virtuous -- 3. Socratic Psychology. 3.1. What One Really Believes. 3.2. What Everyone Believes. 3.3. What We Really Hold in High Regard. 3.4. What Everyone Desires. 3.5. The Denial of Akrasia. 3.6. The Self -- 4. Socratic Ethics. 4.1. Some Problems in Socratic Ethics. 4.2. Goods. 4.3. Virtue and Sufficiency. 4.4. Relative and Absolute Good and Evil, Benefit and Harm. 4.5. The Case of Socrates -- 5. Socratic Politics. 5.1. "The True Political Craft" 5.2. The Socratic Doctrine of "Persuade or Obey" 5.3. Socrates and Political Theory. 5.4. Socrates' Personal Associates and the Trial -- 6. Socratic Religion. 6.1. Socratic Piety. 6.2. Socratic Theology.

6.3. Socrates and His Daimonion. 6.4. Other Forms of Divination. 6.5. Socrates on Death and the Afterlife.

Socrates, as he is portrayed in Plato's early dialogues, remains one of the most controversial figures in the history of philosophy. Plato's Socrates covers six of the most vexing and often discussed features of Plato's portrayal: Socrates' methodology, epistemology, psychology, ethics, politics, and religion. Brickhouse and Smith cast new light on Plato's early dialogues by providing novel analyses of many of the doctrines and practices for which Socrates is best known. Included are discussions of Socrates' moral method, his profession of ignorance, his denial of akrasia, as well as his views about the relationship between virtue and happiness, the authority of the State, and the epistemic status of his daimonion. By revealing the many interconnections among Socrates' views on a wide variety of topics, the authors demonstrate both the richness and the remarkable coherence of the philosophy of Plato's Socrates. The book will be of key interest to classicists, philosophers, intellectual historians, political scientists, and historians of religion.

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