Table Of ContentPLATO'S UTOPIA RECAST
This page intentionally left blank
Plato's Utopia
Recast
HIS LATER ETHICS AND
POLITICS
Christopher Bobonich
CLARENDON PRESS • OXFORD
This book has been printed digitally and produced in a standard specification
in order to ensure its continuing availability
OXFORD
UNIVER-SITY PRESS
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford,
It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide in
Oxford New York
Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi
Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi
New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto
With offices in
Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece
Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan South Korea Poland Portugal
Singapore Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press
in the UK and in certain other countries
Published in the United States
by Oxford University Press Inc., New York
© Chris Bobonich 2002
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
Database right Oxford University Press (maker)
Reprinted 2007
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press,
or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate
reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction
outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department,
Oxford University Press, at the address above
You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover
And you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
ISBN 978-0-19-925143-8
To my parents, my wife, Karen,
and our two canine children,
Plato and Sappho
This page intentionally left blank
Acknowledgments
My work on this book has been generously supported by various institu-
tions. I would like to thank the Princeton University Center for Human
Values for a fellowship in 1994—5 and the Center for Hellenic Studies for a
Junior Fellowship in 1995—6. Stanford University and its Philosophy
department have been extremely supportive and 1 am grateful for a John
Philip Coghlan Faculty Fellowship in 1997—9, a Stanford Humanities
Center Fellowship in 1999—2000, and an Alden H. and Winifred Brown
Faculty Fellowship, 2000-1.
I have learned much from discussions of the ideas in this book with many
more people than I can remember and properly acknowledge. But the fol-
lowing have read all or parts of this manuscript or related papers and offered
very valuable comments and advice: Julia Annas, Liz Asmis, Rachel Barney,
Eric Brown, Alan Code, John Cooper, Stephen Darwall, Gail Fine, Jyl
Gentzler, Christopher Gill, Eric Hutton, Terry Irwin, P. J. Ivanhoe, David
Johnson, Charles Kahn, Rachana Kamtekar, Richard Kraut, André Laks,
Tony Long, Susan Sauvé Meyer, Julius Moravcsik, Don Morrison, Martha
Nussbaum, Reviel Netz, Andrea Nightingale, Josh Ober, Tony Price, Peter
Railton, Christopher Rowe, the late Trevor Saunders, Jennifer Whiting,
Christian Wildberg, Bernard Williams, and Chris Young. Erich Gruen
kindly helped me understand the publication process. I have also benefited
from the opportunity to present parts of this work to audiences at Brown
University, Cornell University, the First International Congress on Ancient
Thought at Salamanca, the Greater Philadelphia Philosophy Consortium,
Johns Hopkins University, Rice University, Temple University, the
University of Arizona, the University of Bristol at the Third International
Symposium Platonicum, the University of Michigan, and the University of
Texas at Austin. The last draft of the manuscript was much improved by the
skilled editing of Laura Maguire.
Viii • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Ann Wald and, later, Ian Malcolm whose enthusi-
asm for this project was deeply encouraging to a first-time author. Peter
Momtchiloff and Charlotte Jenkins have been a delight to work with and
have been extraordinarily patient with an author who has missed deadlines.
I would like to thank Nigel Hope who did a meticulous and superb job of
editing my manuscript.
Some pages of previously published articles reappear in this book. More
frequently, they serve as sketches for views elaborated more fully here or
provide supplementary detail. I would like to thank the following for per-
mission to reprint published material: Oxford University Press for excerpts
from Bobonich (1991) in section 2.3, excerpts from Bobonich (1996) by per-
mission of Oxford University Press in section 2,3, excerpts from Pangle
(1980) © 1980 Basic Books, Inc., reprinted by permission of Basic Books, a
member of Perseus Books, L.L.C., excerpts in section 3.4 from my review of
Terence Irwin, Plato's Ethics, The Philosophical Review 105 (1996), 235-240,
© 1996 Cornell University, reprinted by permission of the publisher,
excerpts from Bobonich (1995b) in section 5.4 and (2001) in section 5.4 by
kind permission of Academia Verlag, excerpts from Bobonich (1994) in sec-
tion 3.3 by kind permission of Walther de Gruyter GmbH & Co, and
excerpts from Bobonich (1995a) in section 2.11 by kind permission of
University Press of America, Inc.
Finally, I would like to thank John Eden, Heather Kirkorowicz, Laura
Maguire, Isodora Stojanovic, and Audrey Yap for their invaluable help in
checking the galley proofs of this book and in compiling the index.
Contents
I Philosophers and Non-philosophers in the Phaedo and the
Republic 1
1.I Introduction, 1
1.2 The Phaedo: Introduction 13
1.3 The Phaedo: Virtues and Ultimate Ends 14
1.4 The Phaedo: The Happiness of Non-philosophers 21
1.5 The Phaedo: The Psychology of Non-philosophers 23
1.6 The Phaedo: The Dependency Thesis 31
1.7 The Phaedo: Wisdom 34
1.8 The Phaedo: Political Implications 36
1.9 The Phaedo; Conclusion 40
1.10 The Republic: Introduction 41
111 The Republic: The Virtues of Non-philosophers 42
1. 12 The Republic: The Ultimate Ends of Non-philosophers 46
1.13 The Republic: The Happiness of Non-philosophers 51
1.14 The Republic: Epistemology 58
1.15 The Republic: Non-philosophers: Solipsism and
Instrumentality? 67
1.16 The Republic: Political Philosophy 72
1.17 The Republic: Conclusion 81
2 Virtue, Goods, and Happiness in the Laws 89
2.1 Overview 89
2.2 Reason and Law 93
2.3 Preludes to the Law 97
2.4 The Place of the Preludes 106
2.5 The Goal of the Laws 119
2.6 Dependent Goods in the Laws 123
