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Ruling oneself: Platonic hedonism and the quality of citizenship

Ruling oneself: Platonic hedonism and the quality of citizenship
Ruling oneself: Platonic hedonism and the quality of citizenship
In this paper, I examine how the idea of self-rule is dramatised and articulated in the Protagoras and the Gorgias with respect to the apparently different treatments of hedonism. Looking at the former dialogue, I describe how the hedonist premise develops from a dramatic image of disorder, specifically the absence of self-rule. I then consider whether the evidence from that dialogue has any bearing on the Gorgias' discussion of hedonism.
I conclude that the Socratic rejection of hedonism in that text is about the Calliclean abandonment of any concern for self-rule, an abandonment that actually masquerades as a commitment to self-rule. This analysis is used to present a more general account of what Socrates considers to be the capacities required for good citizenship.
0142-257X
85-107
Bentley, R.K.
bd4dc158-ec56-4fa0-a8ca-615642243fbb
Bentley, R.K.
bd4dc158-ec56-4fa0-a8ca-615642243fbb

Bentley, R.K. (2003) Ruling oneself: Platonic hedonism and the quality of citizenship. Polis: The Journal of the Society for Greek Political Thought, 20 (1-2), 85-107.

Record type: Article

Abstract

In this paper, I examine how the idea of self-rule is dramatised and articulated in the Protagoras and the Gorgias with respect to the apparently different treatments of hedonism. Looking at the former dialogue, I describe how the hedonist premise develops from a dramatic image of disorder, specifically the absence of self-rule. I then consider whether the evidence from that dialogue has any bearing on the Gorgias' discussion of hedonism.
I conclude that the Socratic rejection of hedonism in that text is about the Calliclean abandonment of any concern for self-rule, an abandonment that actually masquerades as a commitment to self-rule. This analysis is used to present a more general account of what Socrates considers to be the capacities required for good citizenship.

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Published date: 2003

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Local EPrints ID: 35171
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/35171
ISSN: 0142-257X
PURE UUID: 227b39ef-c56e-46a6-a5f7-7687a0256b1e

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Date deposited: 19 May 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 07:50

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