A paper by Professor Georgia Mouroutsou, a Clare Hall Visiting Fellow, has been published in peer-reviewed journal Ancient Philosophy.

Titled ‘Choosing a Life and Rejecting a Thoughtless Life in Philebus 20-22’, Professor Mouroutsou comments on the paper: 

‘Rather than offering an overwhelming argument against hedonism (sensu G.E. Moore), the paper shows that Socrates discusses three fundamental possibilities of life as candidates for the good human life with his hedonist interlocutor: the life of pleasure that is unmixed with intelligence; the life of intelligence that is unmixed with pleasure; and the life of pleasure that is mixed with intelligence. After rejecting the first two as not possible for human beings, the final, combined option is indirectly proven to win the contest. In and beyond the field of research in ancient philosophy, Plato can teach us how serious and demanding the business of dialogue is, especially when we wish to engage in genuine philosophical dialogue and not in an eristic debate with those holding opposite views to ours, as he did with hedonists.’

Established in 1980, Ancient Philosophy is devoted to the publication of original articles, discussions, and reviews in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy and science. It aims to contribute to philosophy by encouraging and enriching reflection on the paths laid down in antiquity.