Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy: Volume XXXI: Winter 2006 (Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy)

423 Pages·2007·5.17 MB·English

by  David Sedley

OXFORD STUDIES IN ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
This page intentionally left blank
OXFORD STUDIES
IN ANCIENT
PHILOSOPHY
EDITOR: DAVID SEDLEY
VOLUME XXXI
winter 2006
(cid:1)
(cid:1)
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp
OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship,
andeducationbypublishingworldwidein
Oxford NewYork
Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi
KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi
NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto
Witho¶cesin
Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece
Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore
SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress
intheUKandincertainothercountries
PublishedintheUnitedStates
byOxfordUniversityPressInc.,NewYork
ãExceptwhereotherwisestated,OxfordUniversityPress,2006
Themoralrightsoftheauthorshavebeenasserted
DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker)
Firstpublished2006
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,
storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,
withoutthepriorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,
orasexpresslypermittedbylaw,orundertermsagreedwiththeappropriate
reprographicsrightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproduction
outsidethescopeoftheaboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,
OxfordUniversityPress,attheaddressabove
Youmustnotcirculatethisbookinanyotherbindingorcover
andyoumustimposethesameconditiononanyacquirer
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
Dataavailable
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Oxfordstudiesinancientphilosophy.—
Vol.xxxi(2006).—Oxford:ClarendonPress;
NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress,1983–
v.;22cm.Annual.
1.Philosophy,Ancient—Periodicals.
B1.O9 180.{5—dc.19 84–645022
AACR2 MARC-S
TypesetbyJohnWas‹,Oxford
PrintedinGreatBritain
onacid-freepaperby
BiddlesLtd,King’sLynn,Norfolk
ISBN0–19–920421–7 978–0–19–920421–2
ISBN0–19–920422–5(Pbk.) 978–0–19–920422–9(Pbk.)
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
ADVISORY BOARD
ProfessorJonathanBarnes,Universite‹deParis-Sorbonne,ParisIV
ProfessorMichaelFrede,UniversityofAthens
ProfessorA.A.Long,UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley
ProfessorMarthaNussbaum,UniversityofChicago
Professor Richard Sorabji, King’s College, University of London,
andWolfsonCollege,Oxford
ProfessorGiselaStriker,HarvardUniversity
Contributions and booksfor review shouldbe sent to the Editor,
ProfessorD.N.Sedley,Christ’sCollege,Cambridge,cb23bu,UK.
Hecanbecontactedbye-mailondns1Äcam.ac.uk.
Contributors are asked to observe the ‘Notes for Contributors to
Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy’,printed at the end ofthis
volume.
Up-to-date contact details, the latest version of Notes to Con-
tributors,andpublicationschedulescanbecheckedontheOxford
StudiesinAncientPhilosophywebsite:
www.oup.co.uk/philosophy/series/osap
This page intentionally left blank
CONTENTS
Socrates’ DemandforDefinitions 1
MICHAELN. FORSTER
The Evolutionof Eiro»neiain Classical GreekTexts: Why
Socratic Eiro»neiaisNotSocratic Irony 49
MELISSA LANE
A DefenceofDogmatisminthe Interpretationof Plato 85
JOHN BEVERSLUIS
TheRidiculousnessofBeingOvercome byPleasure:
Protagoras352b1–358d 4 113
DAVID WOLFSDORF
ThePortrait of Socratesin Plato’sSymposium 137
WILLIAMJ. PRIOR
Speakingwith the Same Voice as Reason: Personification
inPlato’s Psychology 167
RACHANAKAMTEKAR
Plato’s Prometheanism 203
CHRISTINE J. THOMAS
TheBadisLast but DoesNotLast: Aristotle’s
MetaphysicsΘ9 233
&
EMILYCATHERINE KATZ RONALD POLANSKY
LivinginDoubt:Carneades’PithanonReconsidered 243
SUZANNE OBDRZALEK
SomeCautionaryRemarksonthe ‘is’/‘teaches’Analogy 281
JOHN MALCOLM
Archytas Unbound:A Discussion of Carl A. Hu·man,
ArchytasofTarentum 297
ANDREWBARKER
viii Contents
With Friends,‘moreisgoingonthanmeets theeye’:
A DiscussionofTerry PennerandChristopherRowe,
Plato’sLysis 323
R.M. DANCY
Plato inTu•bingen:A DiscussionofKonradGaiser,
Gesammelte Schriften 349
WOLFGANG-RAINERMANN
IndexLocorum 401
SOCRATES’ DEMAND
FOR DEFINITIONS
MICHAEL N. FORSTER
in thisarticleIwouldliketoo·eraninterpretationofacentralas-
pectofthephilosophyofthehistoricalSocrates:hisdemandforde-
finitionsofethicalterms.(Acompanionarticletofollow,‘Socrates’
ProfessionofIgnorance’,will o·era closelyinterconnectedinter-
pretationofthehistoricalSocrates’professionofignorance.)
It is, of course, a vigorouslydisputed question whether we are
in a positionto arrive at conclusionsabout the historical Socrates
at all, and if soby which methods.1 Ishall sidestep that largeand
probablyendlessdebatehere.Butmyviewofthematterismoreor
lessthesameasLacey’s:
There is no royal road to a knowledge of Socrates, anymore than there
is justification for throwing up our hands and treating him as a myth.
The early Plato is rightly regarded as our main source, but no source
can be trusted or ignored entirely, and no source can be assumed to be
equally reliablethroughout. Wesimplyhave togoabout itthe hardway
ãMichaelN.Forster2006
IwouldliketoexpressdeepgratitudetothelateArthurAdkins(UniversityofChi-
cago),JohnCooper(PrincetonUniversity),VassilikiKindi(UniversityofAthens),
RichardKraut (Northwestern University), Ian Mueller(University of Chicago),
AlexanderNehamas(Princeton University), andDavidSedley (Cambridge Uni-
versity) forcommentsonearlierdraftsofthisarticlewhichhelpedmetoimprove
itinvariousways.Alsotothefollowingaudienceswholistenedandrespondedto
versionsofitdeliveredastalks:UniversityofChicago,AncientPhilosophyWork-
shop;UniversityofIllinoisatChicago,DepartmentofPhilosophy;AnatoliaCollege,
Thessaloniki,DepartmentofPhilosophy.Needlesstosay,noneofthesepartiesbears
anyresponsibilityforthearticle’spositionsorshortcomings.
1 To mention two of the more extreme positions in this area: E. Dupre‹el, La
Le‹gendesocratique etlessources dePlaton(Brussels, 1922),andC.H.Kahn,Plato
andtheSocraticDialogue(Cambridge,1996),taketheSocrateswhomwefindinthe
ancientsourcestobelittlemorethanaliteraryfiction,whereasJ.Burnetregards
himasahistoricalfigurewhosepersonality,views,andlifearefaithfullycaptured
bythePlatonicdialogues.