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The Measure of Pleasure: A Note on the Protagoras

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

RICHARD DAVIES Open the ORCID record for RICHARD DAVIES [Opens in a new window]
RICHARD DAVIES*
Affiliation:
DIPARTIMENTO DI LETTERE, FILOSOFIA, COMUNICAZIONE, UNIVERSITÀ DI BERGAMO (ITALY) davies@unibg.it
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Abstract:

To explain the presence of the doctrine of hedonism in Plato's Protagoras (351b–8a), the hypothesis is advanced that the author may have been responding to a suggestion made by Eudoxus of Cnidus that pleasures can be measured in terms of size, number, and intensity. The peculiar ways that Socrates represents these dimensions may indicate that Plato did not fully grasp Eudoxus's suggestion or, conversely, that he saw at once that it was a dead end.

Keywords

PlatoProtagorashedonismEudoxus of Cnidusart of measuring

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Articles
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Journal of the American Philosophical Association , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , Fall 2017 , pp. 301 - 315
Copyright
Copyright © American Philosophical Association 2018 

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