Socrates on Self-Improvement
Knowledge, Virtue, and Happiness

Explains how and why Socrates continues to be a foundational figure in western philosophy.

Nicholas D. Smith (Author)

9781316515532, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 1 July 2021

216 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.5 cm, 0.44 kg

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.

Preface
1. Socrates as exemplar
2. Socrates as apprentice at virtue
3. Socratic motivational intellectualism
4. Socratic ignorance
5. Is virtue sufficient for happiness
6. The necessity of virtue for happiness
Afterword. Review and assessment.

Subject Areas: Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ], Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA]