•  9
    Beaney on mistakes
    Mind 96 (384): 545-547. 1987.
    In 'Plato on Sense and Reference' (Mind,1985, pp. 526-37), I argued that Plato 'understood and rejected' a general strategy for explaining false belief, and that Frege's explanation of false belief was an instance of that general strategy. Michael Beaney ('Mistakes and Mismatches: A Reply to Rudebusch', Mind, 1987, pp. 95-8) replied that there is a feature of Frege's explanation that enables it to escape the argument. In this rejoinder I argue that Beaney's escape is not Fregean and that it fail…Read more
  •  6
    Socrates, pleasure, and value
    Oxford University Press. 1999.
    In this study, George Rudebusch addresses whether Socrates was a hedonist--whether he believed pleasure to be the good. In attempting to locate Socrates' position on hedonism, Rudebusch examines the passages in Plato's early dialogues that are the most disputed on the topic. He maintains that Socrates identifies pleasant activity with virtuous activity, describing Socrates' hedonism as one of activity, not sensation. This analysis allows for Socrates to find both virtue and pleasure to be the go…Read more
  •  22
    Plato on sense and reference
    Mind 94 (376): 526-537. 1985.
    Plato's "theaetetus" (187-200) raises puzzles about false belief. Frege's explanation of how an identity statement can be informative is often seen as a solution to socrates' puzzles. The strategy of frege's solution is to explain a "mistake" as a "mismatch". But it turns out that socrates' argument, In fact, Is aware of and rejects this strategy
  •  96
    Las Ambigüedades del Placer. Ensayo Sobre el Placer en la Filosofía de Platón (review)
    Ancient Philosophy 26 (1): 192-196. 2006.
    Review of Bravo's book.
  •  2
    Death Is One of Two Things
    Ancient Philosophy 11 (1): 35-45. 1991.
  •  8
    Knowing Persons: A Study in Plato (review) (review)
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 43 (1): 108-109. 2005.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Knowing Persons: A Study in PlatoGeorge RudebuschLloyd P. Gerson. Knowing Persons: A Study in Plato. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Pp. x + 308. Cloth, $45.00.For Plato, persons are souls, able to exist apart from bodies. It is natural to read Plato, especially in the Phaedo, as holding a Prison Model of embodiment: an embodied person is different from a disembodied person roughly as a prisoner in a cell is diff…Read more
  •  2
    The Righteous Are Happy
    History of Philosophy Quarterly 15 (2). 1998.
  •  1
    Sophist 237-239
    Southern Journal of Philosophy 29 (4): 521-531. 1991.
  •  4
    Hoffman on Kripke's Wittgenstein
    Philosophical Research Archives 12 177-182. 1986.
    Paul Hoffman (in “Kripke on Private Language”, Philosophical Studies 47, 1985, 23-28) argues that Kripke’s Wittgenstein fails in his solution to his own sceptical paradox. I argue that Hoffman fails to see the importance for Kripke’s Wittgenstein of the distinction between agreement in fact and judged agreement. Hoffman is right that no solution to the sceptical paradox can be based on agreement in fact, but the solution of Kripke’s Wittgenstein depends upon judged agreement. An interpretation i…Read more
  •  105
    Socrates, Piety, and Nominalism
    Skepsis: A Journal for Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Research 20 216-221. 2009.
    The argument used by Socrates to refute the thesis that piety is what all the gods love is one of the most well known in the history of philosophy. Yet some fundamental points of interpretation have gone unnoticed. I will show that (i) the strategy of Socrates' argument refutes not only Euthyphro's theory of piety and such neighboring doctrines as cultural relativism and subjectivism, but nominalism in general; moreover, that (ii) the argument needs to assume much less than is generally thought,…Read more
  •  33
    Review of Myth and Metaphysics in Plato's Phaedo by David A. White (review)
    The Thomist 56 (4): 726-732. 1992.
    I review White's account of the swan song, of Socrates' last words, and of the importance of myth in Plato. Against any account of myth as a remedy in the nature of rational argument, I defend Hegel's account that myth addresses a less-than-fully-rational part of the soul.
  •  33
    Death Is One of Two Things
    Ancient Philosophy 11 (1): 35-45. 1991.
    This paper defends Socrates' argument that death is one of two things against standard objections.
  •  2
    Yu, Confucius, and Ren
    Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 10 (3): 341-348. 2011.
  •  408
    Socrates
    Wiley-Blackwell. 2009.
    _Socrates_ presents a compelling case for some life-changing conclusions that follow from a close reading of Socrates' arguments. Offers a highly original study of Socrates and his thought, accessible to contemporary readers Argues that through studying Socrates we can learn practical wisdom to apply to our lives Lovingly crafted with humour, thought-experiments and literary references, and with close reading sof key Socratic arguments Aids readers with diagrams to make clear complex arguments
  •  74
    Plato's Aporetic Style
    Southern Journal of Philosophy 27 (4): 539-547. 1989.
    I describe an aporetic structure found in certain dialogues and explain the structure by showing how it serves, better than expository writing, the pedagogical goal of avoiding giving readers a false sense of knowledge in producing understanding of a philosophical account.
  •  5
    Hoffman on Kripke’s Wittgenstein
    Philosophy Research Archives 12 177-182. 1986.
    Paul Hoffman argues that Kripke’s Wittgenstein fails in his solution to his own sceptical paradox. I argue that Hoffman fails to see the importance for Kripke’s Wittgenstein of the distinction between agreement in fact and judged agreement. Hoffman is right that no solution to the sceptical paradox can be based on agreement in fact, but the solution of Kripke’s Wittgenstein depends upon judged agreement. An interpretation is given: by ‘judged agreement’ Kripke’s Wittgenstein does not mean unders…Read more
  •  21
    Callicles’ Hedonism
    Ancient Philosophy 12 (1): 53-71. 1992.
  •  16
    Dramatic Prefiguration in Plato's Republic
    Philosophy and Literature 26 (1): 75-83. 2002.
    After defining dramatic prefiguration, I show how (1) the initial meeting between Polemarchus's party and the smaller group of Socrates and Glaucon prefigures the Republic's theme of how to install the philosophical element in its proper place as ruler in the soul; (2) the relay race of torches carried on horseback prefigures the theory of the soul as tripartite, containing reason, spirit, and appetite; and (3) the opening image of Socrates descending to the Piraeus prefigures the descent of the…Read more
  •  112
    Socrates, Wisdom and Pedagogy
    Philosophical Inquiry 31 (1-2): 153-173. 2009.
    Intellectualism about human virtue is the thesis that virtue is knowledge. Virtue intellectualists may be eliminative or reductive. If eliminative, they will eliminate our conventional vocabulary of virtue words-'virtue', 'piety', 'courage', etc.-and speak only of knowledge or wisdom. If reductive, they will continue to use the conventional virtue words but understand each of them as denoting nothing but a kind of knowledge (as opposed to, say, a capacity of some other part of the soul than the …Read more