David Conan Wolfsdorf
Biographic Data
| ID | 4490694 |
|---|---|
| NAME | David Conan Wolfsdorf |
| GIVEN NAMES | David Conan |
| FAMILY NAME | Wolfsdorf |
| SIGNATURE | WOLFSDORF D C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Temple University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 14 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
The Ethical Philosophy of the Historical Socrates
“The Ethical Philosophy of the Historical Socrates” attempts to determine the basic ethical philosophical commitments of the historical Socrates. The method employed is to canvas prevailing ethical philosophical commitments among the Socratics, which can also be non-anachronistically imputed to a philosopher of a prior generation. The discussion specifically focuses on Socrates’ conception of his philosophical enterprise, including its scope, whe…
Early Greek Ethics
Early Greek Ethics is devoted to Greek philosophical ethics in its formative period, from the last decades of the sixth century BCE to the beginning of the fourth century BCE. It begins with the inception of Greek philosophical ethics and ends immediately before the composition of Plato's and Aristotle's mature ethical works Republic and Nicomachean Ethics. The ancient contributors include Presocratics such as Heraclitus, Democritus, and figures …
On Goodness
On Goodness' attempts to answer the question "What is goodness?" It is natural to associate this question with ethics; but goodness is not confined to ethics. Water and wine, a strategy for streamlining maintenance operations, and an oil painting may all be good and in non-ethical ways. Goodness figures prominently in ethics; so the study serves ethics. But it serves other domains as well. 'On Goodness' is a contribution to the foundations of val…
Hinzen on Grammatical Reference
Pleasure and Truth in Republic 9
At Republic 9, 583b1–587a2, Socrates argues that the pleasure of the philosophical life is the truest pleasure. I will call this the ‘true pleasure argument’. The true pleasure argument is divisible into two parts: 583b1–585a7 and 585a8–587a2. Each part contains a sub-argument, which I will call ‘the misperception argument’ and ‘the true filling argument’ respectively. In the misperception argument Socrates argues that it is characteristic of irr…
Plato’s Conception of Knowledge
Plato’s epistemology is closely related to his metaphysics and ethics. The basic reason for this is that Plato thinks that knowledge ( ἐπιστήμη )—in at least one of the senses in which he uses this word—requires explanation. Fully adequate explanation must refer to what is metaphysically primary. The Form of the Good is metaphysically primary. Hence, fully adequate explanation must be teleological. This paper endeavors to clarify these fundamenta…
Eip Ω Neia in Aristophanes and Plato
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
The Method εξ υποεσεως at Meno 86e1-87d8
Scholars ubiquitously refer to the method εξ υποεσεως, introduced at Meno 86e1-87d8, as a method of hypothesis. In contrast, this paper argues that the method εξ υποεσεως in Meno is not a hypothetical method. On the contrary, in the Meno passage, υποεσις means “postulate”, that is, cognitively secure proposition. Furthermore, the method εξ υποεσεως is derived from the method of geometrical analysis. More precisely, it is derived from the use …
Trials of Reason
Scholarship on Plato's dialogues persistently divides its focus between the dramatic or literary and the philosophical or argumentative dimensions of the texts. But this hermeneutic division of labor is naive, for Plato's arguments are embedded in dramatic dialogues and developed through complex, largely informal exchanges between literary characters. Consequently, it is questionable how readers can even attribute arguments and theses to the auth…
Courage and Knowledge at Protagoras 349e1–351b2
At Protagoras 349E1-350C5 Socrates argues for the identity of courage and knowledge, and at 350C6- 351B2 Protagoras objects to Socrates’ argument. Between 1961 and 1985, a few valuable contributions in English were made to the interpretation of these passages. None, however, is entirely satisfactory. And in the last twenty years, among some cursory treatments in studies not particularly focused on these passages, no notable progress has been made…
Αἴτιον and Αἰτία in Plato
The Socratic Fallacy and the Epistemological Priority of Definitional Knowledge
Socrates' Avowals of Knowledge
The paper examines Socrates' avowals and disavowals of knowledge in the standardly accepted early Platonic dialogues. All of the pertinent passages are assembled and discussed. It is shown that, in particular, alleged avowals of knowledge have been variously misinterpreted. The evidence either does not concern ethical knowledge or its interpretation has been distorted by abstraction of the passage from context or through failure adequately to app…
Understanding the 'What-is-F?' Question
IGeach and the Socratic Fallacy1966 P.T. Geach published a paper on Euthyphro in which he criticized Plato's Socrates for several logical errors.The most widely discussed has been what Geach called the 'Socratic fallacy 7 .According to Geach, Plato's Socrates is committed to the following two propositions: (A) If you know that you are correctly predicating a given term T', you must know what it is to be T, in the sense of being able to give a gen…
Plato and the Mouth-Piece Theory
The historical reader of Plato's Protagoras
The popular question why Plato wrote dramatic dialogues, which is motivated by a just fascination and perplexity for contemporary scholars about the unique form of the Platonic texts, is confused and anachronistic; for it judges the Platonic texts qua philosophical texts in terms of post–Platonic texts not written in dramatic dialogic form. In comparison with these, the form of Platos early aporetic dialogues is highly unusual. Yet, in its contem…
The historical reader of Plato's Protagoras
The popular question why Plato wrote dramatic dialogues, which is motivated by a just fascination and perplexity for contemporary scholars about the unique form of the Platonic texts, is confused and anachronistic; for it judges the Platonic texts qua philosophical texts in terms of post–Platonic texts not written in dramatic dialogic form. In comparison with these, the form of Platos early aporetic dialogues is highly unusual. Yet, in its contem…
Pleasure and Truth in Republic 9
At Republic 9, 583b1–587a2, Socrates argues that the pleasure of the philosophical life is the truest pleasure. I will call this the ‘true pleasure argument’. The true pleasure argument is divisible into two parts: 583b1–585a7 and 585a8–587a2. Each part contains a sub-argument, which I will call ‘the misperception argument’ and ‘the true filling argument’ respectively. In the misperception argument Socrates argues that it is characteristic of irr…
The Method εξ υποεσεως at Meno 86e1-87d8
Scholars ubiquitously refer to the method εξ υποεσεως, introduced at Meno 86e1-87d8, as a method of hypothesis. In contrast, this paper argues that the method εξ υποεσεως in Meno is not a hypothetical method. On the contrary, in the Meno passage, υποεσις means “postulate”, that is, cognitively secure proposition. Furthermore, the method εξ υποεσεως is derived from the method of geometrical analysis. More precisely, it is derived from the use …
Socrates' Avowals of Knowledge
The paper examines Socrates' avowals and disavowals of knowledge in the standardly accepted early Platonic dialogues. All of the pertinent passages are assembled and discussed. It is shown that, in particular, alleged avowals of knowledge have been variously misinterpreted. The evidence either does not concern ethical knowledge or its interpretation has been distorted by abstraction of the passage from context or through failure adequately to app…
The historical reader of Plato's Protagoras
The popular question why Plato wrote dramatic dialogues, which is motivated by a just fascination and perplexity for contemporary scholars about the unique form of the Platonic texts, is confused and anachronistic; for it judges the Platonic texts qua philosophical texts in terms of post–Platonic texts not written in dramatic dialogic form. In comparison with these, the form of Platos early aporetic dialogues is highly unusual. Yet, in its contem…
Plato and the Mouth-Piece Theory
Understanding the 'What-is-F?' Question
IGeach and the Socratic Fallacy1966 P.T. Geach published a paper on Euthyphro in which he criticized Plato's Socrates for several logical errors.The most widely discussed has been what Geach called the 'Socratic fallacy 7 .According to Geach, Plato's Socrates is committed to the following two propositions: (A) If you know that you are correctly predicating a given term T', you must know what it is to be T, in the sense of being able to give a gen…
The Socratic Fallacy and the Epistemological Priority of Definitional Knowledge
Socrates' Avowals of Knowledge
The paper examines Socrates' avowals and disavowals of knowledge in the standardly accepted early Platonic dialogues. All of the pertinent passages are assembled and discussed. It is shown that, in particular, alleged avowals of knowledge have been variously misinterpreted. The evidence either does not concern ethical knowledge or its interpretation has been distorted by abstraction of the passage from context or through failure adequately to app…
Αἴτιον and Αἰτία in Plato
Courage and Knowledge at Protagoras 349e1–351b2
At Protagoras 349E1-350C5 Socrates argues for the identity of courage and knowledge, and at 350C6- 351B2 Protagoras objects to Socrates’ argument. Between 1961 and 1985, a few valuable contributions in English were made to the interpretation of these passages. None, however, is entirely satisfactory. And in the last twenty years, among some cursory treatments in studies not particularly focused on these passages, no notable progress has been made…
Trials of Reason
Scholarship on Plato's dialogues persistently divides its focus between the dramatic or literary and the philosophical or argumentative dimensions of the texts. But this hermeneutic division of labor is naive, for Plato's arguments are embedded in dramatic dialogues and developed through complex, largely informal exchanges between literary characters. Consequently, it is questionable how readers can even attribute arguments and theses to the auth…
Eip Ω Neia in Aristophanes and Plato
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
The Method εξ υποεσεως at Meno 86e1-87d8
Scholars ubiquitously refer to the method εξ υποεσεως, introduced at Meno 86e1-87d8, as a method of hypothesis. In contrast, this paper argues that the method εξ υποεσεως in Meno is not a hypothetical method. On the contrary, in the Meno passage, υποεσις means “postulate”, that is, cognitively secure proposition. Furthermore, the method εξ υποεσεως is derived from the method of geometrical analysis. More precisely, it is derived from the use …
Plato’s Conception of Knowledge
Plato’s epistemology is closely related to his metaphysics and ethics. The basic reason for this is that Plato thinks that knowledge ( ἐπιστήμη )—in at least one of the senses in which he uses this word—requires explanation. Fully adequate explanation must refer to what is metaphysically primary. The Form of the Good is metaphysically primary. Hence, fully adequate explanation must be teleological. This paper endeavors to clarify these fundamenta…
Pleasure and Truth in Republic 9
At Republic 9, 583b1–587a2, Socrates argues that the pleasure of the philosophical life is the truest pleasure. I will call this the ‘true pleasure argument’. The true pleasure argument is divisible into two parts: 583b1–585a7 and 585a8–587a2. Each part contains a sub-argument, which I will call ‘the misperception argument’ and ‘the true filling argument’ respectively. In the misperception argument Socrates argues that it is characteristic of irr…
Hinzen on Grammatical Reference
On Goodness
On Goodness' attempts to answer the question "What is goodness?" It is natural to associate this question with ethics; but goodness is not confined to ethics. Water and wine, a strategy for streamlining maintenance operations, and an oil painting may all be good and in non-ethical ways. Goodness figures prominently in ethics; so the study serves ethics. But it serves other domains as well. 'On Goodness' is a contribution to the foundations of val…
The Ethical Philosophy of the Historical Socrates
“The Ethical Philosophy of the Historical Socrates” attempts to determine the basic ethical philosophical commitments of the historical Socrates. The method employed is to canvas prevailing ethical philosophical commitments among the Socratics, which can also be non-anachronistically imputed to a philosopher of a prior generation. The discussion specifically focuses on Socrates’ conception of his philosophical enterprise, including its scope, whe…
Early Greek Ethics
Early Greek Ethics is devoted to Greek philosophical ethics in its formative period, from the last decades of the sixth century BCE to the beginning of the fourth century BCE. It begins with the inception of Greek philosophical ethics and ends immediately before the composition of Plato's and Aristotle's mature ethical works Republic and Nicomachean Ethics. The ancient contributors include Presocratics such as Heraclitus, Democritus, and figures …
Philosophy (15 works) · Classical Philosophy and Thought (14 works) · Epistemology (13 works) · Classical Antiquity Studies (6 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · SOCRATES (5 works) · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies (4 works) · Mathematics (4 works) · Medieval and Classical Philosophy (4 works)