Bøger af Thomas C. Brickhouse

Plato is the most important philosopher in the history of Western philosophy. This guidebook introduces and examines his three dialogues that deal with the death of Socrates - Euthphryo, Apology and Crito.

Socrates' moral psychology is widely thought to be 'intellectualist' in the sense that, for Socrates, every ethical failure to do what is best is exclusively the result of some cognitive failure to apprehend what is best. Until publication of this book, the view that, for Socrates, emotions and desires have no role to play in causing such failure went unchallenged. This book argues against the orthodox view of Socratic intellectualism and offers in its place a comprehensive alternative account that explains why Socrates believed that emotions, desires and appetites can influence human motivation and lead to error. Thomas C. Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith defend the study of Socrates' philosophy and offer an alternative interpretation of Socratic moral psychology. Their novel account of Socrates' conception of virtue and how it is acquired shows that Socratic moral psychology is considerably more sophisticated than scholars have supposed.

Virtually every modern interpretation characterizes some part of what Socrates says in the "Apology of Socrates" as purposefully irrelevant or even antithetical to convincing the jury to acquit him at his trial. This book, by contrast, argues persuasively that Socrates offers a sincere and well-reasoned defense against the charges he faces.

Outside of his Republic, the most widely read of Plato's dialogues are the three that cover the trial of Socrates: the 'Euthyphro', the 'Apology', and the 'Crito'. This collection includes these three, and the death scene from the 'Phaedo', as well other ancient sources that shed light on Socrates' trial and execution.