Can Pleasure Be a Human Good? A Re-Evaluation of Philebus 53c-54d
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Keywords
Plato, hedonism, Philebus
Department
Philosophy
Major
Philosophy
Abstract
This paper considers Plato’s argument in Philebus 53c-54d for the conclusion that pleasure is not an intrinsic good, arguing (a) that Plato’s Socrates means for us to accept the argument, (b) that the genesis-ousia distinction that undergirds the argument is the distinction between things necessarily-good-if-instantiated and things not so describable, (c) that under this reading the argument is valid but in danger of petitio principii, and that (d) Plato avoids the petitio by postulating a view of pleasure as intrinsically intentional which yields the desired conclusion. From these results I draw two interpretive conclusions: Plato’s Socrates, contrary to the opinion of some commentators, endorses a moderate position which affords pleasure a place, but not an exclusive place, in the good life; and the dialect of the Philebus is structured less around convincing Philebus and Protarchus via deductive argument from already accepted premises than around producing a rational insight into the nature of pleasure that of itself overthrows the hedonistic position.
Faculty Mentor
Joel Mann
Funding Source or Research Program
Summer Undergraduate Research Program
Presentation Session
Session B
Location
Plaza Classroom 188
Start Date
3-4-2015 4:15 PM
End Date
3-4-2015 4:30 PM
Can Pleasure Be a Human Good? A Re-Evaluation of Philebus 53c-54d
Plaza Classroom 188
This paper considers Plato’s argument in Philebus 53c-54d for the conclusion that pleasure is not an intrinsic good, arguing (a) that Plato’s Socrates means for us to accept the argument, (b) that the genesis-ousia distinction that undergirds the argument is the distinction between things necessarily-good-if-instantiated and things not so describable, (c) that under this reading the argument is valid but in danger of petitio principii, and that (d) Plato avoids the petitio by postulating a view of pleasure as intrinsically intentional which yields the desired conclusion. From these results I draw two interpretive conclusions: Plato’s Socrates, contrary to the opinion of some commentators, endorses a moderate position which affords pleasure a place, but not an exclusive place, in the good life; and the dialect of the Philebus is structured less around convincing Philebus and Protarchus via deductive argument from already accepted premises than around producing a rational insight into the nature of pleasure that of itself overthrows the hedonistic position.