Table Of ContentSUSAN B. LEVIN
A Struggle and
Its Dissolution
plato’s rivalry with medicine
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Plato’s Rivalry with Medicine
a struggle and its dissolution
Susan B. Levin
1
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1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Levin, Susan B., 1961–
Plato’s rivalry with medicine : a struggle and its dissolution / Susan B. Levin.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–991980–2 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Plato. 2. Medicine—Philosophy. 3. Medical ethics.
4. Bioethics. I. Title.
B398.M38L48 2014
184—dc23
2013042244
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Terms xi
Introduction 1
1. The Gorgias’ Innovative Lens on Human Existence 5
1. Introduction 5
2. T echnai versus Empeiriai: The Gorgias’ Account of What
Is and Is Not Worth Doing 7
3. The Gorgias’ Soul-Body Division 20
4. Goods Set Apart from the Good 21
5. Hedonism and Antithetical Ways of Life 24
6. Order as the Key to Virtue and the Good 29
7. The Gorgias on Punishment 31
8. G orgias 517d–518a and the Dialogue’s Final Hierarchy
of Human Endeavors 35
9. The Gorgias’ Preeminent Technê of Politics 38
2. Medicine in the Gorgias: A Collision Course with Philosophy Is Set 41
1. Introduction 41
2. Medicine’s Role as Aid and Support to the Gorgias’ Castigation
of Rhetoric 42
3. Taking Stock of the Gorgias’ Parallels and Debts to Medical Writings 52
4. The Roots of What Will Become Plato’s Head-On Rivalry with
Medicine 54
v
vi Contents
4.1. Medicine on the Highest Good and the Big Three Epithumiai 54
4.2. Pain 62
4.3. Soul 64
4.4. Microcosmic Hubris 66
5. Looking Ahead 69
3. Eryximachus’ Tale: The Symposium’s Challenge to Medicine’s Preeminence 73
1. Introduction 73
2. Eryximachus as Emcee? 75
3. Macrocosmic Occupations: The Logos of Eryximachus and Its
Hippocratic Backdrop 79
4. Eryximachus’ Appropriation and Critique of Heraclitus and
Anaximander 84
5. Desire, Self-Indulgence, and Self-Control: Eryximachus and Aretê 96
6. The Field of Technai: Eryximachus’ Loose Construction 104
7. Concluding Thoughts: Eryximachus’ and Our Own 108
4. Justice and the Good in Kallipolis: Medicine’s Ejection from the Ranks
of Technai 110
1. Introduction 110
2. The Hippocratic Backdrop 111
2.1. Treatments 111
2.2. Conditions 112
2.3. Nondisease Impairments 114
3. The Republic’s Account of Medical Practice 115
4. Philosophers, the Big Three, and the Soul-Body Tie 122
5. Infallible Philosophers and the Good 128
6. Medicine a Technê No More 135
7. The Republic’s Hierarchy of Human Endeavors and Medicine’s
Distinctiveness 139
8. A Brief Look Ahead 140
5. Approaching the Laws by Way of the Statesman 142
1. Introduction 142
2. Human Capacity in the Statesman and Republic Compared 144
3. The Statesman on Human Endeavors 149
4. Medicine in the Statesman and Its Sociopolitical Milieu 154
5. Phusis and (In)Fallibility: The Laws and Republic Contrasted 158
6. The Touchstone of Magnesia’s Quest for Unity 161
Contents vii
7. Maintaining Magnesia: The Nocturnal Council as Philosopher-Rulers
or Closely Akin Thereto? 164
7.1. Revising the Law 165
7.2. Magistrates’ Corruptibility 167
7.3. The Nocturnal Council’s Fallibility as a Judge of Character 171
7.4. Magnesia’s Own Cognitive Resources are Insufficient 173
7.5. Cognitive Adequacy and the Council 174
8. Conclusion 176
6. Medicine in the Laws: A Rivalry Dissolved 177
1. Introduction 177
2. The Laws’ Opposition to Rhetoricians/Sophists and Poets 178
3. Medicine in the Laws 181
4. Magnesia’s Ordinary Citizens Front and Center 190
5. Noncitizens’ Enhanced Position in Magnesia 195
6. The Gorgias’ Uncertainty Resolved 206
7. Plato’s Legacy to Contemporary Bioethics 212
1. Introduction 212
2. Entrenchment in Bioethics’ Quest for Alternatives: Two Prominent
Illustrations 213
3. Avoiding Scylla and Charybdis: Aristotle to the Rescue? 219
4. Bioethics and Plato Thus Far 225
5. Preconditions of True Doctor-Patient Collaboration: Grounding an
Appeal to Plato 227
6. Bioethics Compared with the Laws on Human Fallibility 228
7. Parity and Paideia 235
8. Paideia and Medical School: Island or Way Station? 240
9. Paideia and (Im)moral Incentives 242
10. Transparency and Accountability: The Who and What of Knowing 248
11. Veatch and Brody on Laypeople’s Values Contributions 252
12. Conclusion 255
bibliography 261
index locorum 277
general index 291
Acknowledgments
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i began work on Plato’s engagement with medicine eight years ago. Shortly
thereafter, I had occasion to start teaching biomedical ethics. At the time, I had no
idea that the two pursuits would converge so as to yield this book. That this conflu-
ence occurred stems in no small part from the rich environment for research and
teaching provided by Smith College, my academic home of twenty years.
Some of the material in the book was presented at annual conferences cospon-
sored by the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy and the Society for the Study of
Islamic Philosophy and Science. Portions were also presented to the Departments of
Philosophy at Loyola University Chicago and Connecticut College. Having the op-
portunity to present my work in these settings helped to enrich my thinking about
topics the book addresses.
I am grateful to Smith College for summer research support from 2008 to the
present. Thanks go also to the students who were my research assistants from 2007 to
2013: Ellina Nektalova, Mohini Banerjee, Sofia Walker, Caitlin Liss, Fatinha Santos,
Juliana Loughrey, and Katherine Russell. In addition, Banerjee and Nektalova com-
mented on the manuscript in part and whole, respectively. Further, I appreciate the
interdisciplinary milieu provided by Smith College’s Kahn Liberal Arts Institute,
where I was a faculty fellow on the project Wellness and Disease during 2009–10.
I am grateful for the kindness and support of Edmund Pellegrino, whom I met in
2007 and with whom I corresponded in the earliest phase of my work involving
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