Die APOLOGIE des Sokrates hat heutzutage eine beinahe konkurrenzlose Vormachtstellung inne, wenn es um die Frage geht, welcher Text den besten Einstieg in das platonische Werk und die griechische Philosophie zu bieten vermag. Auch im... more
Die APOLOGIE des Sokrates hat heutzutage eine beinahe konkurrenzlose Vormachtstellung inne, wenn es um die Frage geht, welcher Text den besten Einstieg in das platonische Werk und die griechische Philosophie zu bieten vermag. Auch im Philosophie- und Platonunterricht der Spätantike gab es einen Dialog, der allen anderen Dialogen in dieser Frage den Rang ablief. Für mehrere Jahrhunderte galt der GROßE bzw. ERSTE ALKIBIADES als unangefochtene Einstiegsempfehlung. Von einer derartigen Wertschätzung ist der Dialog heutzutage weit entfernt. Zu Unrecht, wie dieser Text zeigt.
A critical history of the ancient Peripatetic doctrine that there are three kinds of goods (of the body, of the soul, external), and its relationship to Platonic and Stoic Ethics.
How should we respond to a wrongdoing of a beloved? Pacovská identifies two possible types of response – a rejecting one and a loving one. She advocates the latter by analysing Augustine’s dictum ‘hate the sin, love the sinner’: we should... more
How should we respond to a wrongdoing of a beloved? Pacovská identifies two possible types of response – a rejecting one and a loving one. She advocates the latter by analysing Augustine’s dictum ‘hate the sin, love the sinner’: we should understand and condemn the wrongdoing, but avoid judging the wrongdoer as such. That doesn’t conflict with a clear perception of what the other has become by his wrongdoing. Pacovská claims that such an attitude to the worst villains is possible only for the most virtuous and saintly characters, invoking Weil’s, Murdoch’s, Winch’s and Gaita’s conception of virtue that consists in lucid and truthful love. In the last part, a non-judgmental loving response of compassion is illustrated on the example of Mrs. Bulstrode from Eliot’s novel Middlemarch.
This monograph offers a novel interpretation of Plato's ethics with a focus on the concept of virtue rather than eudaimonia. It argues that central to the argument of the "early" and "middle" dialogues is a distinction between aiming at... more
This monograph offers a novel interpretation of Plato's ethics with a focus on the concept of virtue rather than eudaimonia. It argues that central to the argument of the "early" and "middle" dialogues is a distinction between aiming at virtue as the supreme end of action and determining, metaphysically and epistemologically, what virtue is. It includes detailed readings of the Apology, Crito, Euthyphro, Gorgias, and Republic and addresses issues including Socrates's Disavowal of Knowledge, the Priority of Definition, the role of the "what is F?" question, the relationship between virtuous action and virtuous character, Thrasymachus's challenge to the value of justice, the restated challenge by Glaucon and Adeimantus, the significance of the educational program in the Republic, the unity of the Republic, and the role of Platonic Forms. It argues that there is much more continuity of thought throughout the "early" and "middle" dialogues than commentators have traditionally thought.
In the Gorgias, Socrates claims that painful bodily punishment like flogging can improve certain wrongdoers. I argue that we can take Socrates’ endorsement seriously, even on the standard interpretation of Socratic motivational... more
In the Gorgias, Socrates claims that painful bodily punishment like flogging can improve certain wrongdoers. I argue that we can take Socrates’ endorsement seriously, even on the standard interpretation of Socratic motivational intellectualism, according to which there are no non-rational desires. I propose that flogging can epistemically improve certain wrongdoers by communicating that wrongdoing is bad for oneself. In certain cases, this belief cannot be communicated effectively through philosophical dialogue.
