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47The Bloomsbury companion to Socrates (edited book)Continuum. 2013.Featuring chapters by leading international scholars in Ancient Philosophy, the is a comprehensive one volume reference to guide to Socrates' thought.
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31The trial and execution of Socrates: sources and controversies (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2002.Socrates is one of the most important yet enigmatic philosophers of all time; his fame has endured for centuries despite the fact that he never actually wrote anything. In 399 B.C.E., he was tried on the charge of impiety by the citizens of Athens, convicted by a jury, and sentenced to death (ordered to drink poison derived from hemlock). About these facts there is no disagreement. However, as the sources collected in this book and the scholarly essays that follow them show, several of even the …Read more
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91The Paradox of Socratic Ignorance in Plato's ApologyHistory of Philosophy Quarterly 1 (2). 1984.
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30Socrates’ Proposed Penalty in Plato’s ApologyArchiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 64 (1): 1-18. 1982.
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73The Divine Sign Did Not Oppose MeCanadian Journal of Philosophy 16 (3): 511-526. 1986.After he has been condemned to death, Socrates spends a few minutes talking to the jurors before he is taken away. First, he rebukes those who voted against him for resorting to using the court to kill him when they could have waited and let nature do the same job very soon anyhow, for Socrates is an old man. He next contrasts the evils to which his accusers have resorted to his own unbending resolve never to resort to shameful actions, even though in this case such things might have saved his l…Read more
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220Socrates on TrialPrinceton University Press. 1990.Thomas Brickhouse and Nicholas Smith offer a comprehensive historical and philosophical interpretation of, and commentary on, one of Plato's most widely read works, the Apology of Socrates. Virtually every modern interpretation characterizes some part of what Socrates says in the Apology as purposefully irrelevant or even antithetical to convincing the jury to acquit him at his trial. This book, by contrast, argues persuasively that Socrates offers a sincere and well-reasoned defense against the…Read more
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170Socrates on How Wrongdoing Damages the SoulThe Journal of Ethics 11 (4): 337-356. 2007.There has been little scholarly attention given to explaining exactly how and why Socrates thinks that wrongdoing damages the soul. But there is more than a simple gap in the literature here, we shall argue. The most widely accepted view of Socratic moral psychology, we claim, actually leaves this well-known feature of Socrates’ philosophy absolutely inexplicable. In the first section of this paper, we rehearse this view of Socratic moral psychology, and explain its inadequacy on the issue of th…Read more
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84Socratic Moral PsychologyCambridge University Press. 2010.Socrates' moral psychology is widely thought to be 'intellectualist' in the sense that, for Socrates, every ethical failure to do what is best is exclusively the result of some cognitive failure to apprehend what is best. Until publication of this book, the view that, for Socrates, emotions and desires have no role to play in causing such failure went unchallenged. This book argues against the orthodox view of Socratic intellectualism and offers in its place a comprehensive alternative account t…Read more
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Socratic Moral PsychologyCambridge University Press. 2010.Socrates' moral psychology is widely thought to be 'intellectualist' in the sense that, for Socrates, every ethical failure to do what is best is exclusively the result of some cognitive failure to apprehend what is best. Until publication of this book, the view that, for Socrates, emotions and desires have no role to play in causing such failure went unchallenged. This book argues against the orthodox view of Socratic intellectualism and offers in its place a comprehensive alternative account t…Read more
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22Socrates on Akrasia, Knowledge, and the Power of AppearanceIn Christopher Bobonich & Pierre Destrée (eds.), Akrasia in Greek philosophy: from Socrates to Plotinus, Brill. pp. 1--18. 2007.
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210Socratic Ignorance and SkepticismSkepsis: A Journal for Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Research 7. 1996.Argues that the Socratic profession of wisdom is not an expression of skepticism. Plato's Socrates claims to know things and says that others also know things. The profession of ignorance is a profession about wisdom, not about any other type of knowledge.
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Socrates' Gods and the DaimonionIn Nicholas D. Smith & Paul Woodruff (eds.), Reason and Religion in Socratic Philosophy, Oxford University Press. pp. 74--88. 2000.
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118Socrates and the Laws of AthensPhilosophy Compass 1 (6). 2006.The claim that the citizen's duty is to “persuade or obey” the laws, expressed by the personified Laws of Athens in Plato's Crito, continues to receive intense scholarly attention. In this article, we provide a general review of the debates over this doctrine, and how the various positions taken may or may not fit with the rest of what we know about Socratic philosophy. We ultimately argue that the problems scholars have found in attributing the doctrine to Socrates derive from an anachronistic …Read more
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133Reply to RoweThe Journal of Ethics 16 (3): 325-338. 2012.In our reply to Rowe, we explain why most of what he criticizes is actually the product of his misunderstanding our argument. We begin by showing that nearly all of his Part 1 misconceives our project by defending a position we never attacked. We then question why Rowe thinks the distinction we make between motivational and virtue intellectualism is unimportant before developing a defense of the consistency of our views about different desires. Next we turn to Rowe’s criticisms of our account of…Read more
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86Justice and Dishonesty in Plato’s RepublicSouthern Journal of Philosophy 21 (1): 79-95. 1983.In this paper we explore plato's paradoxical remarks about the philosophical rulers' use of dishonesty in the "republic"--Rulers who, On the one hand, Are said to love truth above all else, But on the other hand are encouraged to make frequent use of "medicinal lies." we establish first that plato's remarks are in fact consistent, According to the relevant platonic theories too often forgotten by both critics and defenders of plato. Finally, We reformulate the underlying moral issue of the purpo…Read more
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149Plato's Socrates (edited book)Oxford University Press. 1994.Brickhouse and Smith cast new light on Plato's early dialogues by providing novel analyses of many of the doctrines and practices for which Socrates is best known. Included are discussions of Socrates' moral method, his profession of ignorance, his denial of akrasia, as well as his views about the relationship between virtue and happiness, the authority of the State, and the epistemic status of his daimonion.
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Portland, Oregon, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Epistemology |
Philosophy of Religion |
Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
Epistemology |
Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy |