Listening to Reason in Plato and Aristotle

by Scott, Dominic

• ISBN13: 9780198863328
• ISBN10: 0198863322
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2020-12-02
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Focusing on Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, this book compares their views on the persuasiveness of moral argument: how far did they think it could reach beyond a narrow circle of believers and influence people more generally? Answering this question requires a wide-ranging approach, which examines their views on such topics as rationality, moral psychology, rhetoric, education, and gender. The first part of the book shows that for Plato certain kinds of argument are beyond the reach of most people, specifically arguments that make appeal to transcendent Forms. But he still thought that there is another level of argument, restricted to human psychology and politics, which could have a much wider appeal, especially if supplemented by the appropriate rhetoric. The second half of the book turns to the Nicomachean Ethics to determine Aristotle's views about the reach of moral argument, as well as its purposes. He is certainly very restrictive
when it comes to the kinds of argument pursued in the work itself, proposing to talk only to those who are mature in years and well brought up. Like Plato, however, he also allows for the possibility of another type of discourse, which is more rhetorical in nature and could benefit those who are less mature. Though mainly focused on the Republic and Nicomachean Ethics, this book also examines relevant passages from Plato's Laws and Aristotle's Politics.

Author Biography

Dominic Scott, Professor of Philosophy, University of Oxford

Dominic Scott is a professor of philosophy at Oxford University, having worked as a lecturer at Cambridge University and then a professor at the University of Virginia. He has also held visiting positions at Princeton, Harvard, and the Center for Hellenic Studies Washington DC. In 2001-3 he was a British Academy Research Reader and in 2016 a Humboldt Fellow based in Munich. He has written three monographs on ancient philosophy and edited two further books, as well as co-authoring The Humanities World Report 2015.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Part I: Plato's Republic
Introduction to Part I: Three Levels of Argument
1. The Longer Route
2. The Middle Route
3. The Shorter Route
4. The Role of Education
5. Irrationality in Republic VIII-IX: Timocracy and Oligarchy
6. Irrationality in Republic VIII-IX: Democracy and Tyranny
Interim Conclusions
Part II: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics
Introduction to Part II: the Target Audience of the Nicomachean Ethics
7. The Functions of the Nicomachean Ethics
8. Aristotle and Moral Scepticism
9. The Young
10. Further Exclusions
11. Women and Moral Argument
12. The Roles of Music and Habituation
Conclusion