This seminar examines Plato's basic views in normative ethicsand metaethics. Although there's a large literature on Plato's normative ethics, there's been surprisingly little work on his metaethics and the relation between his metaethics and his normative ethics. We'll focus on the following issues. (1) What ethical properties does Plato use? (2) Plato is a Rational Eudaimonist (roughly, the ultimate end of all rational action is the agent's own greatest happiness). Is Rational Eudaimonism unacceptably egoistic and insufficiently impartial? (3) Why does Plato move from accepting Psychological Eudaimonism (roughly, whenever a person acts, she tries to perform the action that she believes optimally conduces to her greatest happiness) to rejecting it and accepting weakness of will (akrasia)? What are the implications for views about the unity of the person and mental transparency? (4) What's the place of pleasure in happiness and ethical learning? This question leads to some basic issues in Plato's ethical psychology, ethical epistemology, and metaphysics of value. (5) What's the relation between ethical knowledge and ethical belief? This question leads to basic issues in Plato's epistemology and metaphysics. (6) What conceptions of goodness does Plato have (attributive, relational, and non-relational) and what are the relations among them? (7) In Plato's axiology, does he accept an organic unity account of goods (as did G. E. Moore in Principia Ethica) or a conditionalist view of goods (as did Kant in The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals)? 2-unit option only open to Philosophy PhD students beyond the second year; all others enroll in 4 units.
2-4 units · Letter or Credit/No Credit
This seminar examines Plato's basic views in normative ethicsand metaethics. Although there's a large literature on Plato's normative ethics, there's been surprisingly little work on his metaethics and the relation between his metaethics and his normative ethics. We'll focus on the following issues. (1) What ethical properties does Plato use? (2) Plato is a Rational Eudaimonist (roughly, the ultimate end of all rational action is the agent's own greatest happiness). Is Rational Eudaimonism unacceptably egoistic and insufficiently impartial? (3) Why does Plato move from accepting Psychological Eudaimonism (roughly, whenever a person acts, she tries to perform the action that she believes optimally conduces to her greatest happiness) to rejecting it and accepting weakness of will (akrasia)? What are the implications for views about the unity of the person and mental transparency? (4) What's the place of pleasure in happiness and ethical learning? This question leads to some basic issues in Plato's ethical psychology, ethical epistemology, and metaphysics of value. (5) What's the relation between ethical knowledge and ethical belief? This question leads to basic issues in Plato's epistemology and metaphysics. (6) What conceptions of goodness does Plato have (attributive, relational, and non-relational) and what are the relations among them? (7) In Plato's axiology, does he accept an organic unity account of goods (as did G. E. Moore in Principia Ethica) or a conditionalist view of goods (as did Kant in The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals)? 2-unit option only open to Philosophy PhD students beyond the second year; all others enroll in 4 units.