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Plato's Hippias Minor

The Play of Ambiguity

Zenon Culverhouse

Philosophers accuse Socrates of advancing unfair, if not fallacious, arguments in Plato’s Hippias Minor more than in most other dialogues. In Hippias Minor, Socrates appears to defend the trickster Odysseus, and in the course of doing so he argues for outrageous claims: the honest person and the liar are no different, and the good person is one who does wrong voluntarily. In Plato’s Hippias Minor: The Play of Ambiguity, Zenon Culverhouse argues that Socrates’ questionable behavior is no coincidence in a dialogue about deception and that Socrates is examining what counts as deception and how it reflects one’s excellence. More broadly, the dialogue is about the relationship between the speaker and what is said, between agent and action. Thus, the dialogue marks an important contribution not only to Socrates’ thinking about virtue and voluntary action but also to Plato’s portrait of Socrates. For the latter, Culverhouse argues that the dialogue further defines the sometimes thin line between Socrates and his contemporaries, the sophists. Rather than exploiting ambiguity in key terms of the argument to trip up his opponent, Socrates playfully explores these ambiguities to illuminate Hippias’—and perhaps our own—serious commitments about human excellence.

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Lexington Books
Pages: 142 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9
978-1-7936-1121-5 • Hardback • July 2021 • $100.00 • (£77.00)
978-1-7936-1122-2 • eBook • July 2021 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
Subjects: Philosophy / History & Surveys / Ancient & Classical, Literary Criticism / Ancient & Classical, History / Ancient / Greece

Zenon Culverhouse is associate professor of philosophy at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1: Socrates on Homer, Part 1:364b3-365d5

Chapter 2: Δύναμιςin Action:365d6-366c4

Chapter 3: Calculated Deception:366c5-369c2

Chapter 4: Socrates on Homer, Part 2: 369b8-371e5

Chapter 5: “If in fact there is such a person”; 372b-End

Conclusions

Epilogue: The Influence of the Hippias Minor on Aristotle’s Ethics

Bibliography

Culverhouse has produced a stunningly careful and convincing analysis of one of Plato’s often-forgotten works. The meticulous approach of this book profits anyone who gives it a close read.


— VoegelinView


"This is an invaluable commentary on Plato’s Hippias Minor that every student of the dialogue will want by her side."


— Chris Bobonich, Stanford University


"Zenon Culverhouse has done an exemplary job of scholarship in this book, engaging not only with the very diverse scholarly treatments of the Hippias Minor but also with the nuances of both argument and humor in the text itself. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in this important, but also in many ways puzzling, Platonic dialogue."


— Nicholas D. Smith, Lewis and Clark College


"By concentrating on Plato’s use of two different words for 'better,' one applied in a moral sense, the other confined to a superior capacity to do something whether or not doing it is immoral, Zenon Culverhouse offers an elegant solution to Plato’s problematic little dialogue Hippias Minor."


— William H. F. Altman, author of Plato the Teacher


"A well-argued and elucidating treatment of one of Plato’s most puzzling dialogues. Culverhouse successfully establishes Hippias Minor as a foundational text for understanding Socratic philosophy."


— Paul Carelli, University of North Florida


Plato's Hippias Minor

The Play of Ambiguity

Cover Image
Hardback
eBook
Summary
Summary
  • Philosophers accuse Socrates of advancing unfair, if not fallacious, arguments in Plato’s Hippias Minor more than in most other dialogues. In Hippias Minor, Socrates appears to defend the trickster Odysseus, and in the course of doing so he argues for outrageous claims: the honest person and the liar are no different, and the good person is one who does wrong voluntarily. In Plato’s Hippias Minor: The Play of Ambiguity, Zenon Culverhouse argues that Socrates’ questionable behavior is no coincidence in a dialogue about deception and that Socrates is examining what counts as deception and how it reflects one’s excellence. More broadly, the dialogue is about the relationship between the speaker and what is said, between agent and action. Thus, the dialogue marks an important contribution not only to Socrates’ thinking about virtue and voluntary action but also to Plato’s portrait of Socrates. For the latter, Culverhouse argues that the dialogue further defines the sometimes thin line between Socrates and his contemporaries, the sophists. Rather than exploiting ambiguity in key terms of the argument to trip up his opponent, Socrates playfully explores these ambiguities to illuminate Hippias’—and perhaps our own—serious commitments about human excellence.

Details
Details
  • Lexington Books
    Pages: 142 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9
    978-1-7936-1121-5 • Hardback • July 2021 • $100.00 • (£77.00)
    978-1-7936-1122-2 • eBook • July 2021 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
    Subjects: Philosophy / History & Surveys / Ancient & Classical, Literary Criticism / Ancient & Classical, History / Ancient / Greece
Author
Author
  • Zenon Culverhouse is associate professor of philosophy at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Acknowledgments

    Introduction

    Chapter 1: Socrates on Homer, Part 1:364b3-365d5

    Chapter 2: Δύναμιςin Action:365d6-366c4

    Chapter 3: Calculated Deception:366c5-369c2

    Chapter 4: Socrates on Homer, Part 2: 369b8-371e5

    Chapter 5: “If in fact there is such a person”; 372b-End

    Conclusions

    Epilogue: The Influence of the Hippias Minor on Aristotle’s Ethics

    Bibliography

Reviews
Reviews
  • Culverhouse has produced a stunningly careful and convincing analysis of one of Plato’s often-forgotten works. The meticulous approach of this book profits anyone who gives it a close read.


    — VoegelinView


    "This is an invaluable commentary on Plato’s Hippias Minor that every student of the dialogue will want by her side."


    — Chris Bobonich, Stanford University


    "Zenon Culverhouse has done an exemplary job of scholarship in this book, engaging not only with the very diverse scholarly treatments of the Hippias Minor but also with the nuances of both argument and humor in the text itself. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in this important, but also in many ways puzzling, Platonic dialogue."


    — Nicholas D. Smith, Lewis and Clark College


    "By concentrating on Plato’s use of two different words for 'better,' one applied in a moral sense, the other confined to a superior capacity to do something whether or not doing it is immoral, Zenon Culverhouse offers an elegant solution to Plato’s problematic little dialogue Hippias Minor."


    — William H. F. Altman, author of Plato the Teacher


    "A well-argued and elucidating treatment of one of Plato’s most puzzling dialogues. Culverhouse successfully establishes Hippias Minor as a foundational text for understanding Socratic philosophy."


    — Paul Carelli, University of North Florida


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