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    Just Prospering? Plato and the Sophistic Debate about Justice

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    Author(s)
    Anderson, Merrick
    Language
    English
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    Abstract
    This book argues that Plato’s Republic must be understood as developing out of a 5th Century sophistic debate. In Part One the author presents a new analysis of the sophists and their extant texts addressing the important topics of justice and its value. This part shows that already in the 5th Century there was a robust debate about whether the just or unjust life was better for the self-interested individual, and that multiple sophistic authors made inventive and philosophically sophisticated arguments on both sides of this debate. The Moral Cynics argues that the intelligent individual was better off being unjust, whereas the Friends of Justice defended the idea that the just life was better for human beings. Part Two argues that Plato was very much aware of this debate and that in a number of dialogues—but most importantly in Republic—he engaged with this debate. The immoralist challenge that Glaucon and Adeimantus pose to Socrates early in Republic draws from the arguments of the 5th Century Moral Cynics and moreover identifies problems with the arguments of the 5th Century Friends of Justice. By having Socrates make an argument that overcomes the theoretical weaknesses of the earlier Friends of Justice, Plato is able to pose a new defence of justice that is more effective at responding to the Moral Cynics. The book’s analysis of Republic suggests new readings for certain important passages, such as the division of goods.
    URI
    https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/89739
    Keywords
    Justice Prospering [εὐδαιμονία] Plato The Sophists The History of Moral and Political Philosophy
    ISBN
    9780197267660, 9780198922575, 9780198922568, 9780198922582
    Publisher
    Oxford University Press
    Publisher website
    https://global.oup.com/
    Publication date and place
    Oxford, 2024
    Grantor
    • British Academy
    Series
    British Academy Monographs,
    Classification
    Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy
    Methods, theory and philosophy of law
    Ethics and moral philosophy
    BCE period – Protohistory
    Ancient Greece
    Pages
    238
    Rights
    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
    • Imported or submitted locally

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    License

    • If not noted otherwise all contents are available under Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

    Credits

    • logo EU
    • This project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 683680, 810640, 871069 and 964352.

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