The Idea of the Good in Platonic-Aristotelian Philosophy

One of this century's most important philosophers here focuses on Plato's PROTAGORAS, PHAEDO, REPUBLIC, and PHILEBUS and on Aristotle's three moral treatises to show the essential continuity of Platonic and Aristotelian reflection on the nature of the good. In so doing Gadamer not only succeeds in giving us an incisive example of his interpretive art but also gives us a clearer picture of the ethical dimension of his own philosophy and the practical implications of hermeneutical theory. CONTENTS......Page 5 Translator's Introduction......Page 7 Preface......Page 33 I. The Question at Issue......Page 39 II. Socratic Knowing and Not-Knowing......Page 65 III. The Polis and Knowledge of the Good......Page 95 IV. The Dialectic of the Good in the Philebus......Page 136 V. Aristotle's Critique of the Idea of the Good......Page 158 VI. The Idea of Practical Philosophy......Page 191 Index ......Page 211 Though shorter than Truth and Method1 and, as Gadamer readily acknowledges, not a completely unified study, "The Idea of the Good in Platonic-Aristotelian Philosophy" must be counted nonetheless among Gadamer's most important books. vii 1 The Question at Issue Socratic Knowing and Not-Knowing The Polis and the Knowledge of the Good The Dialectic of the Good in the Philebus Aristotle's Critique of the Idea of the Good The Idea of Practical Philosophy 179