The Plato Paradigm

Brief Explanation of the Diagram

Article

I present here the typescript of my article “Plato on the Good: Hippias Minor and Hippias Major,” in Y. Z. Liebersohn, I. Ludlam, A. Edelheit (edd.), For a Skeptical Peripatetic: Festschrift in Honour of John Glucker (Studies in Ancient Moral and Political Philosophy 3), Academia Verlag, Sankt Augustin 2017, pp. 78–100.

This is my only article to date demonstrating how the conclusions of two Platonic dialogues may be compared, a comparison which Plato himself appears to invite. Hippias Minor dramatizes how ability appears to be a good, while Hippias Major incorporates this theme into a wider dramatization of the abuse of apparent good by harmful people, while also clarifying the distinction between the Good and the Fine (Beautiful).

Podcast

My preliminary read-through of Hippias Minor examines the nuts and bolts of the dialogue sequentially, as opposed to the final holistic analysis you will find in the article.