C. D. C. Reeve
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199934430
- eISBN:
- 9780199980659
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199934430.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
This chapter argues that the notion of a technē (craft) provided a template for the wisdom Socrates searched for in vain, and for the Platonic conception of philosophy. Some crafts treat their first ...
More
This chapter argues that the notion of a technē (craft) provided a template for the wisdom Socrates searched for in vain, and for the Platonic conception of philosophy. Some crafts treat their first principles as accessible to perception; others treat them as hypotheses. In Republic 5–6, Socrates shows that ethics cannot do either. Dialectic (a successor of the elenchus) is introduced to solve the problem of first principles, rendering them unhypothetical by defending them against all aporetic objection. The good, as a paradigm of rational order, raises special problems for ethics, since there it must be a pleasant object of desire. Is it desired, then, because it is an ideal of rational order, or because it is pleasant? A discussion of the Philebus shows how Plato resolved this problem.Less
This chapter argues that the notion of a technē (craft) provided a template for the wisdom Socrates searched for in vain, and for the Platonic conception of philosophy. Some crafts treat their first principles as accessible to perception; others treat them as hypotheses. In Republic 5–6, Socrates shows that ethics cannot do either. Dialectic (a successor of the elenchus) is introduced to solve the problem of first principles, rendering them unhypothetical by defending them against all aporetic objection. The good, as a paradigm of rational order, raises special problems for ethics, since there it must be a pleasant object of desire. Is it desired, then, because it is an ideal of rational order, or because it is pleasant? A discussion of the Philebus shows how Plato resolved this problem.
Peter Achinstein
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- December 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190615055
- eISBN:
- 9780190615086
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190615055.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, General
This chapter provides a summary of the results of this investigation into the meaning, legitimacy, and importance of speculating within and about science.
This chapter provides a summary of the results of this investigation into the meaning, legitimacy, and importance of speculating within and about science.
