Argues that mediation is a central theme in this Platonic dialogue dedicated to the exploration of what it means to live a good life.
Plato’s Philebus continues to fascinate us with its reflections on what it means to live a good life by aiming at the right combination of pleasure and knowledge. In this book, Cristina Ionescu argues that mediation is a central theme in the dialogue. Whether we talk about mediating between distinct ontological levels, between steps of reasoning, between pleasure and knowledge, between distinct types of pleasure, or between concrete circumstances and ideals, the steps in between remain essential to a good life. Focusing on ethical, epistemological, and metaphysical aspects of the dialogue, Ionescu occasionally steps beyond the letter of the text, while remaining faithful to its spirit, as she tries to illuminate what is only hinted at.
Cristina Ionescu is Associate Professor in the School of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America. She is the author of Plato’s Meno : An Interpretation .

motw/On the Good Life_ Thinking Thro - Cristina Ionescu.epub

motw/On the Good Life_ Thinking Thro - Cristina Ionescu.pdf

Ionescu, Cristina

SUNY series in ancient Greek philosophy, Albany, NY, 2019

United States, United States of America

Albany, NY, 2020

Jul 01, 2019

producers:
Acrobat Distiller 11.0 (Windows)

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Source title: On the Good Life: Thinking through the Intermediaries in Plato's Philebus (SUNY series in Ancient Greek Philosophy)

Contents 8
Acknowledgments 10
Introduction 14
I. The Unity of the Philebus: Metaphysical Assumptions of the Good Human Life 28
The Dialectical Method and the Fourfold Structure of Reality 28
Using the Method and the Fourfold Model to Analyze Pleasure and Knowledge 44
II. The Placement of Pleasure and Knowledge in the Fourfold Articulation of Reality 58
The Placement of Pleasure and Knowledge on the Fourfold Metaphysical Map 60
The Relation between Pleasure and Knowledge in Light of Their Placement on the Metaphysical Map 64
III. Hybrid Varieties of Pleasure: True Mixed Pleasures and False Pure Pleasures 84
Distinct Criteria for Classifying Pleasures: Truth/Falsehood and Purity/Impurity 85
Hybrid Pleasures 90
Can Mixed Pleasures Be True? 90
Can Pure Pleasures Be False? 95
Why Hybrid Pleasures Matter 99
IV. The Nature of Pleasure: Absolute Standards of Replenishment and Due Measure 102
Pleasure as Perceived Replenishment of Some Lack 103
False Pleasures of Anticipation (36c–40e) 104
Absolute Standards of Replenishment and Due Measure 110
V. Pleasures of Learning and the Role of Due Measure in Experiencing Them 120
Aporia and the Purity of our Pleasures of Learning 122
False and Impure Pleasures of Learning Alongside True and Pure Ones 126
Mixed Pleasures of Learning 129
False Pleasures of Learning 133
The Role of Due Measure in Experiencing Pleasures of Learning 140
VI. Plato’s Conception of Pleasure Confronting Three Aristotelian Critiques 148
Aristotle’s View of Pleasure in the Nicomachean Ethics 149
A Platonic Response to Aristotle’s Critique of Pleasure as Genesis and as Replenishment of a Lack 155
Appendix. The Philebus’s Implicit Response to the Aporiai of Participation from the Parmenides 172
Notes 184
Bibliography 206
Primary Sources 206
Secondary Sources 206
Index 214

Plato's Philebus continues to fascinate us with its reflections on what it means to live a good life by aiming at the right combination of pleasure and knowledge. In this book, Cristina Ionescu argues that mediation is a central theme in the dialogue. Whether we talk about mediating between distinct ontological levels, between steps of reasoning, between pleasure and knowledge, between distinct types of pleasure, or between concrete circumstances and ideals, the steps in between remain essential to a good life. Focusing on ethical, epistemological, and metaphysical aspects of the dialogue, Ionescu occasionally steps beyond the letter of the text, while remaining faithful to its spirit, as she tries to illuminate what is only hinted at. -- Provided by publisher

2025-10-27