Socratic Virtue: Making the Best of the Neither-Good-Nor-Bad

Socrates was not a moral philosopher. Instead he was a theorist who showed how human desire and human knowledge complement one another in the pursuit of human happiness. His theory allowed him to demonstrate that actions and objects have no value other than that which they derive from their employment by individuals who, inevitably, desire their own happiness and have the knowledge to use actions and objects as a means for its attainment. The result is a naturalized, practical, and demystified account of good and bad, and right and wrong. Professor Reshotko presents a newly-envisioned Socratic theory residing at the intersection of the philosophy of mind and ethics. It makes an important contribution to the study of the Platonic dialogues and will also interest all scholars of ethics and moral psychology.

• Provides a complete account of the philosophy of Plato’s Socratic Dialogues • Challenges the assumption that Socrates held that there is a categorically ‘moral’ notion of good • Accessible to scholars of modern philosophy, with all Greek translated

1. Introduction; Part I. The Socratic Theory of Motivation: 2. Socratic desire; 3. Socratic egoism; 4. Socratic intellectualism; Part II. Socratic Value: 5. The good, the bad, and the neither-good-nor-bad; 6. Virtue and happiness: two different kinds of goods; Part III. Virtue and its Relationship to Happiness: 7. Does virtue make us happy?; 8. Virtue as a science; 9. Happiness, virtue, and pleasure; 10. Reflections on Socratic ethics and the demystification of morality.