Author Archives: David Vance

Arete and the Good In his discussion of the simile of the sun, Socrates explains that just as the sun causes all that it illumines to come into being as well as into visibility, so the form of the Good … Continue reading →

This post concerns 427d-Book IV of Plato’s Republic. From Book I, the working assumption is that justice in the state is the same as justice in the soul.  By 427, the ideal city has been outlined and the question is … Continue reading →

natural virtue — (esp. among the scholastics) any moral virtue of which a human being is capable, esp. the cardinal virtues: justice, temperance, prudence, and fortitude.  Also called “classical virtues.”  Cf. theological virtue. The Random House Unabridged Dictionary of the … Continue reading →

The Greek “techné” translates both “art” and “craft.”  Plato did not recognize any difference between what we call the arts and the crafts or trades.  He did not use any equivalent to our concept of “fine art,” according to which … Continue reading →

Remarks on the Gorgias:  Can Reason Persuade?  Socrates, Oratory and Self-Deceit. In Plato’s Gorgias, Socrates is portrayed in dialogue with men influenced by the Sophistic teaching of oratory.  These men have concluded that the first political art is the art … Continue reading →

The Meaning of Death In the Phaedo, the Socratic way of life is portrayed under the test of the prospect of immediate death.  Such a prospect is the ultimate test for any way of life.  A philosophy of life that … Continue reading →

The Definition of Elenchus  The Euthyphro is a good example of the Socratic practice of elenchus (“cross-examining”).  Formally stated, elenchus is a process of examining and refuting propositions (usually a series of propositions proposed as definitions for some interesting eidos) … Continue reading →

Obedience The Crito is about obedience.  What is it to obey the law?  Is it just to do as the law says?  No, for a person who is quite lawless, though also cunning, might do that.[1] Consider the attitude of … Continue reading →

One of the Socratic puzzles is how to make sense of wrong-doing.  For if our beliefs about what is good and right are basically correct, how is it that we sometimes choose to do what is wrong?  Socrates held that … Continue reading →

PRIMORDIAL BELIEF AND ANAMNESIS In this discussion of the theory of the human soul that I attribute to Socrates, I shall use the term, “primordial belief,” to refer to those true beliefs that each person holds at least implicitly if … Continue reading →