•  79
    The Self in Plato's "Ion"
    Apeiron 30 (3). 1997.
  •  29
    Pleasure and desire
    In James Warren (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Epicureanism, Cambridge University Press. pp. 158. 2009.
  •  80
    A Shaggy Soul Story: How not to Read the Wax Tablet Model in Plato’s Theaetetus
    Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 69 (3). 2004.
    This paper sets out to re-examine the famous Wax Tablet model in Plato's Theaetetus, in particular the section of it which appeals to the quality of individual souls' wax as an explanation of why some are more liable to make mistakes than others (194c-195a). This section has often been regarded as an ornamental flourish or a humorous appendage to the model's main explanatory business. Yet in their own appropriations both Aristotle and Locke treat the notion of variable wax quality as an importan…Read more
  •  20
    Review of Dominic Scott, Plato's Meno (review)
    Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2006 (10). 2006.
  •  57
    Colloquium 1: Misology and Truth
    Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy 23 (1): 1-24. 2008.
  •  134
    Truth as a value in Plato's republic
    Phronesis 54 (1): 9-39. 2009.
    To what extent is possession of truth considered a good thing in the Republic? Certain passages of the dialogue appear to regard truth as a universal good, but others are more circumspect about its value, recommending that truth be withheld on occasion and falsehood disseminated. I seek to resolve this tension by distinguishing two kinds of truths, which I label 'philosophical' and 'non-philosophical'. Philosophical truths, I argue, are considered unqualifiedly good to possess, whereas non-philo…Read more
  •  23
    Plato and the Hero: Courage, Manliness and the Impersonal Good
    Philosophical Review 111 (1): 95. 2002.
    The main title of this work is a little misleading. Hobbs does not begin to consider in any detail Plato’s relation to traditional Greek models of the hero until chapter 6, nearly two-thirds of the way through the book. In fact, Hobbs’s treatment of Plato’s re-working of the hero-figure is embedded in a nexus of themes revolving round the Greek virtue of andreia and its psychological basis in that part of the soul that Plato in the Republic calls the thumos. Commonly translated ‘spirit’, the ter…Read more
  •  25
    Cicero and gyges
    Classical Quarterly 63 (2): 801-812. 2013.
    The tale of Gyges' ring narrated by Cicero at De officiis 3.38 is of course originally found, and acknowledged as such by Cicero, in Plato. I would like in this paper to address two questions about Cicero's handling of the tale – one historical, one philosophical. The purpose of the historical question is to evaluate, with respect to the Gyges narration, Cicero's quality as a reader of Plato. How well does Cicero understand the role of the story in its original Platonic context? The motivation f…Read more
  •  31