Plato's moral realism rests on the Idea of the Good, the unhypothetical first principle of all. It is this, as Plato says, that makes just things useful and beneficial. That Plato makes the first principle of all the Idea of the Good sets his approach apart from that of virtually every other philosopher. This fact has been occluded by later Christian Platonists who tried to identify the Good with the God of scripture. But for Plato, theology, though important, is subordinate to metaphysics. For this reason, ethics is independent of theology and attached to metaphysics. This book challenges many contemporary accounts of Plato's ethics that start with the so-called Socratic paradoxes and attempt to construct a psychology of action or moral psychology that makes these paradoxes defensible. Rather, Lloyd Gerson argues that Plato at least never thought that moral realism was defensible outside of a metaphysical framework.

‘Recommended.’

P. A. Streveler Source: CHOICE

‘‘Plato’s Moral Realism’ is written with inspiring attention to argumentative rigor and clarity. Gerson’s interpretation of Plato’s thought is in line with what he has presented in other works, as he acknowledges, but even readers who question his systematic reading of Plato will find it rewarding to engage with his argument that Plato should be interpreted as a robust moral realist.’

Brennan McDavid Source: Journal of the History of Philosophy

‘[T]his monograph is - or at least should be in my view - a necessary interlocutor for future research on Plato’s ethics. Gerson rightly places the metaphysical first principle - the Idea of the Good - back at the centre of Plato’s moral philosophy, whilst never overlooking its primordial ontological function. This book moreover proposes an interesting solution to an old hermeneutic dilemma concerning the first principle and bridges the abyss, in recent scholarship, between the axiological and ontological functions of the Good, and, consequently, between Plato and Platonism.’

André Lanoue Source: Bryn Mawr Classical Review