ENGLISH

Socrates on Self-Improvement: Knowledge, Virtue, and Happiness

By Nicholas D. Smith

Book information

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Year
2021
ISBN
1316515532, 9781316515532
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
863 kB (883840 bytes)
Pages
216\202
Time added
2021-10-10 17:36:58

Description

What model of knowledge does Plato's Socrates use? In this book, Nicholas D. Smith argues that it is akin to knowledge of a craft which is acquired by degrees, rather than straightforward knowledge of facts. He contends that a failure to recognize and identify this model, and attempts to ground ethical success in contemporary accounts of propositional or informational knowledge, have led to distortions of Socrates' philosophical mission to improve himself and others in the domain of practical ethics. He shows that the model of craft-knowledge makes sense of a number of issues scholars have struggled to understand, and makes a case for attributing to Socrates a very sophisticated and plausible view of the improvability of the human condition.

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