Diotima's eudaemonism: Intrinsic value and rational motivation in Plato's symposium
Phronesis 54 (4):297-325 (2009)
| Abstract | This paper gives a new interpretation of the central section of Plato's Symposium (199d-212a). According to this interpretation, the term "καλóν", as used by Plato here, stands for what many contemporary philosophers call "intrinsic value"; and "love" (ἔρως) is in effect rational motivation , which for Plato consists in the desire to "possess" intrinsically valuable things - that is, according to Plato, to be happy - for as long as possible. An explanation is given of why Plato believes that "possessing" intrinsically valuable things, at least for mortals like us, consists in actively creating instantiations of the intrinsic values, both in oneself and in the external world, and in knowing and loving these intrinsic values and their instantiations. Finally, it is argued that this interpretation reveals that Plato's "eudaemonism" is a different and more defensible doctrine than many commentators believe. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,679 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articles Plato (2008). Symposium. OUP Oxford.
Plato (2008). Plato: The Symposium. Cambridge Univ Pr.
Frisbee C. C. Sheffield (2006/2009). Plato's Symposium: The Ethics of Desire. Oxford University Press.
P. Christopher Smith (2005). Poetry, Socratic Dialectic, and the Desire of the Beautiful in Plato's Symposium. Epoché 9 (2):233-253.
Kristian Urstad, Loving Socrates: The Individual and the Ladder of Love in Plato's Symposium. Res Cogitans.
Andrea Nye (1989). The Hidden Host: Irigaray and Diotima at Plato's Symposium. Hypatia 3 (3):45 - 61.
Luc Brisson (2006). Agathon, Pausanias, and Diotima in Plato's Symposium : Paiderastia and Philosophia. In J. H. Lesher, Debra Nails & Frisbee C. C. Sheffield (eds.), Plato's Symposium: Issues in Interpretation and Reception. Distributed by Harvard University Press.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads44 ( #25,338 of 549,087 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,317 of 549,087 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
