Pleasure and the Good Life: Plato, Aristotle, and the Neoplatonists

This volume deals with the general theory of pleasure of Plato and his successors. The first part describes the two paradigms between which all theories of pleasure oscillate: Plato's definition of pleasure as the repletion of a lack, and Aristotle's view that pleasure is the perfect performance of an activity. After an excursus on Epicureans and Stoics, the book concentrates on Neoplatonism, opposing the "standard Neoplatonic view" of Plotinus and Proclus to the original viewpoint of Damascius' commentary on Plato's "Philebus". The volume sheds light on the discussion between hedonists and anti-hedonists, by concentrating on the "crucial point" at which any philosophical analysis of the good life (hedonistic or other) ought to argue that the life of the philosopher is the most desirable, and thus truly pleasurable, life.

ISBN 9004117970   Volumes 1 ISBN13 9789004117976 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 568 Publisher Brill Academic Publishers   Published in Leiden Imprint BRILL ACADEMIC PUB   Series editor Fortenbaugh, W.W., Mansfield, J., Winden, J.C.M. van Format Hardback   Series ISSN 85 Publication date 01 May 2000   Series title Philosophia Antiqua S. Library of Congress 00029771   Height (mm) 242 DEWEY 171.409   Width (mm) 165 Pages 207

		Preface
		Introduction		1
Ch. 1		Two Paradigms: Plato and Aristotle		7
I		Plato: The 'Replenishment Theory'		7
1		From the Protagoras to the Republic		8
2		The Philebus		17
3		An Evaluation of Plato's Theory		37
II		Aristotle: The 'Theory of the Perfect Activity'		43
1		Aristotle's Rejection of the Platonic Definition		43
2		A New Model		50
3		Consequences of Aristotle's New Model		61
4		An Evaluation of the Aristotelian Account		71
		Excursus. Epicureans and Stoics		79
Ch. 2		The Standard Neoplatonic Theory: Plotinus and Proclus		94
I		Plotinus		94
1		Plotinus' Definition of Pleasure		94
2		Plotinus' Refutation of Hedonism		100
3		'Pleasure' in the Good Life		107
II		Proclus		120
1		Proclus' Definition of Pleasure		121
2		'Pleasure in the Good Life		126
Ch. 3		A Different View: Damascius' Commentary on the Philebus		134
1		Introduction		134
2		The Central Theme ([skopos]) of the Dialogue		139
3		Damascius' Account of the Soul as a Basis of his Theory of Pleasure		140
4		Damascius' Interpretation of the 'Mixture of Pleasure and Intellect'		145
		More...

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