Philebus.html



Part of the series on: The Dialogues of Plato

Early dialogues:

Apology – Charmides – Crito

Euthyphro – First Alcibiades

Hippias Major – Hippias Minor

Ion – Laches – Lysis

Transitional & middle dialogues:

Cratylus – Euthydemus – Gorgias

Menexenus – Meno – Phaedo

Protagoras – Symposium

Later middle dialogues:

Republic – Phaedrus

Parmenides – Theaetetus

Late dialogues:

Timaeus – Critias

Sophist – Statesman

Philebus – Laws

Of doubtful authenticity:

Clitophon – Epinomis

Epistles – Hipparchus

Minos – Rival Lovers

Second Alcibiades – Theages

This box: view • talk •

Philebus (often called The Philebus) is among the last of the late Socratic dialogues of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. Socrates is the primary speaker in Philebus, unlike in the other late dialogues. The other speakers are Philebus and Protarchus.

The dialogue's central question concerns the relative value of pleasure and knowledge, and produces a model for thinking about how complex structures are developed. Socrates begins by summarizing the two sides of the dialogue:

Philebus was saying that enjoyment and pleasure and delight, and the class of feelings akin to them, are a good to every living being, whereas I contend, that not these, but wisdom and intelligence and memory, and their kindred, right opinion and true reasoning, are better and more desirable than pleasure for all who are able to partake of them, and that to all such who are or ever will be they are the most advantageous of all things.¹

But he then goes on to dismiss both as unsatisfactory; reasoning that the truly good life is one of a measured and sensible mixture of the two (pleasure and knowledge).

The dialogue is generally considered to contain less humor than earlier dialogues, and to emphasize philosophy and speculation over drama and poetry.²³

References

Sources

• Plato (tr. B. Jowett). Philebus.
• Schofield, Malcolm. (1998, 2002). "Plato." In E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge. Retrieved September, 2006.

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Philebus

• Full text - Greek and English (Harold N. Fowler, 1925) - Perseus Project
• Full text and Introduction (Benjamin Jowett, 1892)
• Overview at Gutenberg