Abstract

George Rudebusch’s book, Socrates, Pleasure and Value is a richly textured book whose central aim is to resolve the dispute. On the one hand, Rudebusch sides with the proponents of in holding that the hedonism of the Protagoras is Socrates’ own considered position, clearly distinct from the hedonism refuted in the Gorgias, despite evident verbal similarities. On the other, he agrees with the proponents of that for Socrates virtue is the supreme intrinsic human good. He thus accepts the burden of reconciling the claim that pleasure is the only intrinsic good with the claim that virtue is the supreme intrinsic good.