Plato and His Predecessors Class

Plato and His Predecessors Class

In the Protagoras, Socrates argues from 353a-357e that “weakness of will” (i.e. thinking that A is worse than B but still doing A) is impossible, and that what people call “being overcome by pleasure” is in fact a form of ignorance. What is the argument? Does it work?

2. In Gorgias 495b-497d Socrates gets Callicles to agree that pleasure is not the good, despite what he had claimed earlier. What is Socrates’ argument against hedonism? Is it a good one? Why or why not?

3. In Gorgias 497e-499b, Socrates gets Callicles to agree that the “bad man” turns out to be both good and bad, and in roughly equal measure. Does his argument reveal a flaw in Callicles’ position about excellence and happiness, or is it a trick? Why?