The Republic: Protagoras, Gorgias, and Meno :: Philosophy Morals Neo Aristotelianism Papers

The Republic Protagoras, Gorgias, and MenoOne vigorous line of thought in contemporary moral philosophy, which I shall call Neo-Aristotelianism, centers on three things (1) a rejection of traditional enlightenment moral theories like Kantianism and utilitarianism (2) a carry that another look at the ethical concerns and projects of ancient Greek thought might second us past the impasse into which enlightenment moral theories have left us (3) more particularly, an attempt to reinterpret Aristotles ethical work for the late(a) twentieth-century so as to transcend this impasse. The Neo-Aristotelian Rejection of PlatoNeo-Aristotelians like Martha Nussbaum(1) and Alasdair MacIntyre,(2) in spite of their many differences,(3) are thitherfore united not only in their positive binge to Aristotle but also in their rejection of Plato and Platos Socrates.(4) And yet some features of these rejections invite further reflection. Nussbaum, for example, consistently recognizes that the Socratic-P latonic project requires us to remake ourselves In short, I claim that in the Protagoras Socrates tours us, in the guise of empirical description, a radical proposal for the transformation of our lives. (FG 117, LK 112) But to what extent has she done justice to the particular kind of remaking Plato has Socrates offer us? More pointedly, does she acknowledge the extent to which Socrates aims at focussing his interlocutors on a process of questioning, rather than simply handing doctrine over to them?(5) Or has her Socrates been planate out, his dialogical style rendered monological, so as to support her overall thesis more easily?(6) As for MacIntyre, does he see clearly enough the parallel between his own work and Platos when he says that in his earlier dialogues Plato is pointing to a general state of incoherence in the use of evaluative language in Athenian culture (AV 131)? Mutatis mutandis, isnt this precisely what the opening chapters of After Virtue attempt to show? And to wh at extent must MacIntyres quest for the good in his crucial chapter The Virtues, the Unity of a Human Life and the Concept of a Tradition be committed to a Platonic, rather than Aristotelian, notion of the good? When he says now it is important to emphasize that it is the systematic asking of these two questions What is the good for me? and What is the good for man? and the attempt to answer them in deed as tumesce as in word which provide the moral life with its unity (AV 219, emphasis added), isnt it Platos Socrates who serves as the ultimate source of inspiration here?