Hybrid Varieties of Pleasure and the Complex Case of the Pleasures of Learning in Plato's Philebus

Dialogue 47 (3-4):439-461 (2008)
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Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article addresses two main concerns: first, the relation between the truth/falsehood and purity/impurity criteria as applied to pleasure, and, second, the status of our pleasures of learning. In addressing the first, I argue that Plato keeps the truth/falsehood and purity/impurity criteria distinct in his assessment of pleasures and thus leaves room for the possibility of hybrid pleasures in the form of true impure pleasures and false pure pleasures. In addressing the second issue, I show that Plato's view is perfectly able to accommodate an understanding of our pleasures of learning as pure pleasures even if such pleasures are preceded by awareness of a lack (ignorance).RÉSUMÉ: Cet article aborde deux concepts principaux: premièrement, la relation entre les critères de vérité/fausseté et de pureté/impureté appliqués au plaisir, et deuxièmement, le statut de notre plaisir d'apprendre. En abordant le premier concept, j'argumente que Platon tient distincts les critères de vérité/fausseté et de'pureté Iimpureté dans son évaluation du plaisir, laissant ouverte la possibilité de plaisirs hybrides sous forme de vrais plaisirs impurs et faux plaisirs purs. En abordant le deuxième concept, je montre que le point de vue de Platon est parfaitement capable d'accommoder la compréhension de nos plaisirs d'apprendre comme plaisirs purs si de tels plaisirs sont précédés par la conscience d'un manque (ignorance)

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Cristina Ionescu
Catholic University of America

Citations of this work

An Inconsistency in the Philebus?Joachim Aufderheide - 2013 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 21 (5):817 - 837.
The Supremacy of Dialectic in Plato’s Philebus.George Harvey - 2012 - Ancient Philosophy 32 (2):279-301.

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References found in this work

Plato’s examination of pleasure.R. Hackforth - 1945 - Philosophy 21 (79):182-183.
The Philebus on Pleasure: The Good, the Bad and the False.Verity Harte - 2004 - Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 104 (1):113-130.
Plato's theory of human good in the philebus.John M. Cooper - 1977 - Journal of Philosophy 74 (11):714-730.

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