Socrates' Education to Virtue: Learning the Love of the Noble

By Mark J. Lutz

Book Overview

Argues that Plato's dialogues contain a surprisingly neglected account of Socrates' education about the love of noble virtue and that recovering this education could help broaden and deepen liberalism's moral and political horizon.

Socrates' Education to Virtue argues that Plato's account of Socrates offers the fullest account of virtue and of the place of virtue in political life. Focusing on Platonic dramas such as the Symposium, Alcibiades Major, and the Republic, Lutz recounts how Socrates came to understand the longing for the "noble" and to believe that this longing is best satisfied by the search for knowledge or wisdom. By scrutinizing how Socrates' conversations allow him to acquire, extend, and confirm his knowledge of eros and of noble virtue, the book recovers a powerful, concrete, and nondogmatic Platonic reply to ancient critics of philosophy such as Aristophanes and suggests a further Platonic response to modern critics of classical rationalism such as Nietzsche and Rorty. Moreover, it shows how Socrates' education to virtue teaches him that the philosopher must always respect and examine alternative accounts of nobility and excellence. The book argues that the recovery of Socratic education can strengthen liberal democracy not only by broadening and invigorating political, moral, and religious debate but also by serving as an example of virtue in an open society.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0791436543
• ISBN13: 9780791436547
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Length: 214 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.9" x 8.9"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

One of the best contemporary books on philosophy.

This book succeeds in bringing out the very core of Socrates' philosophy and makes a powerful case for its importance for our time. When I first picked up the book, I thought that it was overly ambitious. But I am very impressed by the subtelty and rigor with which it shows how Plato answers Nietzsche and Rorty. Anyone who wishes to know what the philosophes actually know should read it. It may be the best book about Socrates or Plato in the last twenty five years.