Socratic Moral Psychology

by Thomas C. Brickhouse, Nicholas D. Smith

Overview

Socrates' moral psychology is widely thought to be 'intellectualist' in the sense that, for Socrates, every ethical failure to do what is best is exclusively the result of some cognitive failure to apprehend what is best. Until publication of this book, the view that, for Socrates, emotions and desires have no role to play in causing such failure went unchallenged. This book argues against the orthodox view of Socratic intellectualism and offers in its place a comprehensive alternative account that explains why Socrates believed that emotions, desires and appetites can influence human motivation and lead to error. Thomas C. Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith defend the study of Socrates' philosophy and offer an alternative interpretation of Socratic moral psychology. Their novel account of Socrates' conception of virtue and how it is acquired shows that Socratic moral psychology is considerably more sophisticated than scholars have supposed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780511848469
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/06/2010
Series:	Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture, 159 Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	308 KB

About the Author

Thomas C. Brickhouse is John Franklin East Professor of Humanities, Department of Philosophy, Lynchburg College, Virginia. He is the co-author (with Nicholas D. Smith) of The Philosophy of Socrates (2000) and the co-editor (with Nicholas D. Smith) of The Trial and Execution of Socrates (2002).

Nicholas D. Smith is James F. Miller Professor of Humanities, Department of Philosophy, Lewis and Clark College, Portland. He is the co-author (with Thomas C. Brickhouse) of Plato and the Trial of Socrates (2004) and the author of papers on Plato, Aristotle, and contemporary epistemology.

Table of Contents

Introduction; Acknowledgements; 1. Apology of Socratic studies; 2. Motivational intellectualism; 3. The 'prudential paradox'; 4. Wrongdoing and damage to the soul; 5. Educating the appetites and passions; 6. Virtue intellectualism; 7. Socrates and his intellectual heirs: Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics; Appendix. Is Plato's Gorgias consistent with the other early or Socratic dialogues?; Bibliography of works cited; Index of passages; General index.

Editorial Reviews

"....Overall the book has much to recommend it, not least of which is the lively and engaging style in which the authors have managed to express what is.... provided scholarly and intelligent arguments for what remains a challenging and unorthodox thesis. The book deserves to be widely read."
—Scott Carson, Ohio University, Bryn Mawr Classical Review


"....The primary audience for this book is, consequently, scholars and students invested in Socratic philosophy.... One feature of the present book that scholars will thus eagerly welcome is its deliberate defense of Socratic studies as a viable research program.... SMP includes an appendix by way of supplementing the text-based defense of their decision. The book also offers a sustained discussion of what is perhaps the least developed element of intellectualist interpretations, namely, how it is that, for Socrates, harming another necessarily harms oneself.... thorough explanations of how, given their re-interpretation of Socratic intellectualism, Socrates’ moral psychology is to be distinguished from the moral psychologies of Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics.... The volume includes a thorough bibliography, general index, and an index locorum."
—Patrick Mooney, John Carroll University, Philosophy in Review

From the Publisher