David Wolfsdorf
Biographic Data
| ID | 992925 |
|---|---|
| NAME | David Wolfsdorf |
| GIVEN NAMES | David |
| FAMILY NAME | Wolfsdorf |
| SIGNATURE | WOLFSDORF D |
| AFFILIATIONS | Temple University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 7 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 20 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
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…
Pleasure in ancient Greek philosophy
The Key Themes in Ancient Philosophy series provides concise books, written by major scholars and accessible to non-specialists, on important themes in ancient philosophy that remain of philosophical interest today. In this volume Professor Wolfsdorf undertakes the first exploration of ancient Greek philosophical conceptions of pleasure in relation to contemporary conceptions. The book provides broad coverage of the ancient material, from pre-Pla…
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…
Empedocles and His Ancientreaders on Desire and Pleasure
A: What are Plato, Speusippus, and Menedemus up to?... What weighty thought, what line of argument are they now investigating? ...B: I can tell you about these fellows for sure, since at the Panathenaea I saw a group of youngsters in the exercise-grounds of the Academy and heard them speaking, indescribable, astonishing! They were propounding definitions about nature and separating into categories the forms of life of animals, the nature of trees…
Hesiod, Prodicus, And The Socratics On Work And Pleasure
since poetry, especially the epic poetry of Homer and Hesiod, was central to Greek culture in the late archaic and classical periods, those individuals engaged in the formation and early development of philosophy, in many ways a reaction and alternative to conventional culture and forms of expression, inevitably engaged with their illustrious predecessors. Plato’s criticism of poetry in the Republic is the most obvious example. But in general, ph…
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 …
The Irony of Socrates
To specify the particular approach of this paper toward the subject of Socratic irony, it is necessary to begin with some terminological distinctions. The Greek noun 'eironeia' is standardly understood as deception or dissembling, but in its earliest recorded usage, namely, among Aristophanes' comedies and Plato's early dialogues, the latter of which will be the focus of this paper, 'eir6neia' and its cognates have a more precise sense. In discus…
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…
Hippias Major 301b2-c2
In the final movement of the investigation in Hippias Major, Socrates and Hippias agree that unlike pleasures experienced through taste, touch, and smell, pleasure experienced through sight (Ps), pleasure through hearing (Ph), and pleasure through both sight and hearing (Psh) are beautiful (καλόν). 1 In other words, Ps, Ph, and Psh have something in common, call it K, that makes them beautiful. 2I will speak of Κ as a continuous property, where b…
Desire for Good in Meno 77b2–78b6
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
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
Euthyphro 10a2-11b1
The Socratic Fallacy and the Epistemological Priority of Definitional Knowledge
Interpreting Plato’S Early Dialogues
Interpretation of philosophical texts usually proceeds on the assumption that philosophers have written in order to disseminate their beliefs. Interpreting their texts, therefore, aims to clarify their beliefs on the topics the texts engage, where the texts constitute the evidence for those beliefs. Difficulty tends to lie in determining the author’s meaning or the cogency of the author’s arguments rather than whether the author believes what is …
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…
Socrates' Pursuit of Definitions
Socrates' Pursuit of Definitions" examines the manner in which Socrates pursues definitions in Plato's early definitional dialogues and advances the following claims. Socrates evaluates definitions (proposed by his interlocutors or himself ) by considering their consistency with conditions of the identity of F (F-conditions) to which he is committed. In evaluating proposed definitions, Socrates seeks to determine their truth-value. Socrates evalu…
Plato and the Mouth-Piece Theory
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 …
Desire for Good in Meno 77b2–78b6
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
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…
Socrates' Pursuit of Definitions
Socrates' Pursuit of Definitions" examines the manner in which Socrates pursues definitions in Plato's early definitional dialogues and advances the following claims. Socrates evaluates definitions (proposed by his interlocutors or himself ) by considering their consistency with conditions of the identity of F (F-conditions) to which he is committed. In evaluating proposed definitions, Socrates seeks to determine their truth-value. Socrates evalu…
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…
Socrates' Pursuit of Definitions
Socrates' Pursuit of Definitions" examines the manner in which Socrates pursues definitions in Plato's early definitional dialogues and advances the following claims. Socrates evaluates definitions (proposed by his interlocutors or himself ) by considering their consistency with conditions of the identity of F (F-conditions) to which he is committed. In evaluating proposed definitions, Socrates seeks to determine their truth-value. Socrates evalu…
The Socratic Fallacy and the Epistemological Priority of Definitional Knowledge
Interpreting Plato’S Early Dialogues
Interpretation of philosophical texts usually proceeds on the assumption that philosophers have written in order to disseminate their beliefs. Interpreting their texts, therefore, aims to clarify their beliefs on the topics the texts engage, where the texts constitute the evidence for those beliefs. Difficulty tends to lie in determining the author’s meaning or the cogency of the author’s arguments rather than whether the author believes what is …
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
Euthyphro 10a2-11b1
Hippias Major 301b2-c2
In the final movement of the investigation in Hippias Major, Socrates and Hippias agree that unlike pleasures experienced through taste, touch, and smell, pleasure experienced through sight (Ps), pleasure through hearing (Ph), and pleasure through both sight and hearing (Psh) are beautiful (καλόν). 1 In other words, Ps, Ph, and Psh have something in common, call it K, that makes them beautiful. 2I will speak of Κ as a continuous property, where b…
Desire for Good in Meno 77b2–78b6
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
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…
The Irony of Socrates
To specify the particular approach of this paper toward the subject of Socratic irony, it is necessary to begin with some terminological distinctions. The Greek noun 'eironeia' is standardly understood as deception or dissembling, but in its earliest recorded usage, namely, among Aristophanes' comedies and Plato's early dialogues, the latter of which will be the focus of this paper, 'eir6neia' and its cognates have a more precise sense. In discus…
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…
Hesiod, Prodicus, And The Socratics On Work And Pleasure
since poetry, especially the epic poetry of Homer and Hesiod, was central to Greek culture in the late archaic and classical periods, those individuals engaged in the formation and early development of philosophy, in many ways a reaction and alternative to conventional culture and forms of expression, inevitably engaged with their illustrious predecessors. Plato’s criticism of poetry in the Republic is the most obvious example. But in general, ph…
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 …
Empedocles and His Ancientreaders on Desire and Pleasure
A: What are Plato, Speusippus, and Menedemus up to?... What weighty thought, what line of argument are they now investigating? ...B: I can tell you about these fellows for sure, since at the Panathenaea I saw a group of youngsters in the exercise-grounds of the Academy and heard them speaking, indescribable, astonishing! They were propounding definitions about nature and separating into categories the forms of life of animals, the nature of trees…
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…
Pleasure in ancient Greek philosophy
The Key Themes in Ancient Philosophy series provides concise books, written by major scholars and accessible to non-specialists, on important themes in ancient philosophy that remain of philosophical interest today. In this volume Professor Wolfsdorf undertakes the first exploration of ancient Greek philosophical conceptions of pleasure in relation to contemporary conceptions. The book provides broad coverage of the ancient material, from pre-Pla…
Classical Philosophy and Thought (17 works) · Philosophy (17 works) · Epistemology (14 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · SOCRATES (7 works) · Classical Antiquity Studies (6 works) · Art (5 works) · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies (5 works) · Literature (5 works)