Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: I argue that the Republic IX ‘Authority Argument’ (580d3-583a10) embraces both subjectivity of hedonic experience and objectivity of hedonic character. This combination of views undermines the interpretations of both the argument’s main critics and its main defenders. A more adequate interpretation, drawing on the idea of inapt hedonic experiences which fail to reflect the pleasantness of their objects, points towards a reassessment of the Argument’s place in the sequence ending Bk. IX. On the view presented here, the ‘Authority Argument’ is not a stand-alone argument, but depends on the ‘Olympian Argument’ that follows it.
Source: Plato Journal
Author: Lee Franklin
Institution: Franklin & Marshall College
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4402391946