Socrates on Reason, Appetite and Passion: A Response to Thomas C. Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith, Socratic Moral Psychology [Book Review]

The Journal of Ethics 16 (3):305-324 (2012)
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Abstract

Section 1 of this essay distinguishes between four interpretations of Socratic intellectualism, which are, very roughly: a version in which on any given occasion desire, and then action, is determined by what we think will turn out best for us, that being what we all, always, really desire; a version in which on any given occasion action is determined by what we think will best satisfy our permanent desire for what is really best for us; a version formed by the assimilation of to, labelled the ‘standard’ version’ by Thomas C. Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith, and treated by them as a single alternative to their own interpretation; and Brickhouse and Smith’s own version. Section 2 considers, in particular, Brickhouse and Smith’s handling of the ‘appetites and passions’, which is the most distinctive feature of interpretation. Section 3 discusses Brickhouse and Smith’s defence of ‘Socratic studies’ in its historical context, and assesses the contribution made by their distinctive interpretation of ‘the philosophy of Socrates’. One question raised in this section, and one that is clearly fundamental to the existence of ‘Socratic studies’, is how different Brickhouse and Smith’s Socrates turns out to be from Plato himself, i.e., the Plato of the post-‘Socratic’ dialogues; to which the answer offered is that on Brickhouse and Smith’s interpretation Socratic moral psychology becomes rather less distinguishable from its ‘Platonic’ counterpart—as that is currently understood—than it is on the interpretation they oppose

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Christopher Rowe
Durham University

Citations of this work

Can Flogging Make Us Less Ignorant?Freya Möbus - 2023 - Ancient Philosophy 43 (1):51-68.
The role of practice and habituation in Socrates’ theory of ethical development.Mark E. Jonas - 2018 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 26 (6):987-1005.
Reply to Rowe.Thomas C. Brickhouse & Nicholas D. Smith - 2012 - The Journal of Ethics 16 (3):325-338.

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References found in this work

Plato and the art of philosophical writing.Christopher Rowe - 2007 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
Socratic Moral Psychology.Thomas C. Brickhouse & Nicholas D. Smith - 2010 - New York: Cambridge University Press. Edited by Nicholas D. Smith.

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