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1 results

  • Chapter 4 - Socratic Ignorance

  • Nicholas D. Smith, Lewis and Clark College, Portland
  • Book:
    Socrates on Self-Improvement
    Published online:
    11 June 2021
    Print publication:
    01 July 2021, pp 68-106

  • Summary

    Given Socratic motivational intellectualism, self-improvement in the ethical domain requires self-improvement in the epistemic domain. Gives the details of Socratic epistemology and indicates the ways in which Socrates supposes we can improve our cognitive conditions. Explains the different sources of ignorance and how these can be controlled. Shows how some etiologies of belief-formation are more reliable than others, and how Socrates thinks we can learn to rely more on the more reliable ones and less on those that are less reliable. Explains how the Socratic “search for definitions” and elenctic refutations are exercises in cognitive self-improvement, which does not simply produce repeated failures, but instead greater comprehension of ethical concepts – even if such comprehension is never complete or perfect for a human being.