Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Contributors and Editors
- Introduction
- 1 What is the Form of the Good the Form of? A Question about the Plot of the Republic
- 2 Glaucon's Challenge, Rational Egoism and Ordinary Morality
- 3 Thrasymachean Rulers, Altruistic Rulers and Socratic Rulers
- 4 Neutralism in Book I of the Republic
- 5 The Good, Advantage, Happiness and the Form of the Good: How Continuous with Socratic Ethics is Platonic Ethics?
- 6 The Form of the Good and the Good in Plato's Republic
- 7 Flourishing: The Central Concept of Practical Thought
- 8 Is Plato's Conception of the Form of the Good Contradictory?
- 9 The Good, Essences and Relations
- 10 The Idea of the Good and the Other Forms in Plato's Republic
- 11 The Aporia in the Charmides about Reflexive Knowledge and the Contribution to its Solution in the Sun Analogy of the Republic
- 12 The Good and Mathematics
- 13 The Good and Order: Does the Republic Display an Analogy Between a Science of Ethics and Mathematics?
- 14 Inquiry and Justification in the Search for the Highest Good in Plato and Aristotle
- 15 The Carpenter and the Good
- 16 Conversion or Conversation? A Note on Plato's Philosophical Methods
- Index
8 - Is Plato's Conception of the Form of the Good Contradictory?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Contributors and Editors
- Introduction
- 1 What is the Form of the Good the Form of? A Question about the Plot of the Republic
- 2 Glaucon's Challenge, Rational Egoism and Ordinary Morality
- 3 Thrasymachean Rulers, Altruistic Rulers and Socratic Rulers
- 4 Neutralism in Book I of the Republic
- 5 The Good, Advantage, Happiness and the Form of the Good: How Continuous with Socratic Ethics is Platonic Ethics?
- 6 The Form of the Good and the Good in Plato's Republic
- 7 Flourishing: The Central Concept of Practical Thought
- 8 Is Plato's Conception of the Form of the Good Contradictory?
- 9 The Good, Essences and Relations
- 10 The Idea of the Good and the Other Forms in Plato's Republic
- 11 The Aporia in the Charmides about Reflexive Knowledge and the Contribution to its Solution in the Sun Analogy of the Republic
- 12 The Good and Mathematics
- 13 The Good and Order: Does the Republic Display an Analogy Between a Science of Ethics and Mathematics?
- 14 Inquiry and Justification in the Search for the Highest Good in Plato and Aristotle
- 15 The Carpenter and the Good
- 16 Conversion or Conversation? A Note on Plato's Philosophical Methods
- Index
Summary
One thing is sure: we don't know what Plato's conception of the Form of the Good was, exactly. If we knew, the fourth A. G. Leventis conference would probably not have taken place, and if it had the papers given would have looked quite different. However, as is well known, Plato gave us some indications of how he conceived of the Form of the Good. For what we find in the Republic in the three famous figures or similes, i.e., those of the Sun, the Line and the Cave, is a kind of wanted poster we can use in order to identify the Form of the Good.
Wanted posters normally contain a certain number of characteristic features of the individual being looked for. And if these features taken together are sufficiently specific there should be – in the ideal case – only one individual who corresponds to the given description. However, imagine that the characteristics the police have at their disposal aren't consistent. In this case they have no chance of running a successful investigation. Now, exactly this seems to be the situation we find ourselves in when we start our investigation of Plato's Form of the Good, or so some scholars in the field believe. In order to see whether there is such a contradiction in Plato's characterization of the Form of the Good, let me first give a summary of these characteristics.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Pursuing the GoodEthics and Metaphysics in Plato's Republic, pp. 168 - 196Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2007