Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Glossary
- 1 The puzzle of Plato's thumos
- 2 Thumos, andreia and the ethics of flourishing
- 3 Arms and the man: andreia in the Laches
- 4 Odd virtue out: courage and goodness in the Protagoras
- 5 Why should I be good? Callicles, Thrasymachus and the egoist challenge
- 6 Heroes and role models: the Apology, Hippias Major and Hippias Minor
- 7 The threat of Achilles
- 8 Plato's response: the valuable as one
- 9 Alcibiades' revenge: thumos in the Symposium
- Epilogue: The weaver's art: andreia in the Politicus and Laws
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Why should I be good? Callicles, Thrasymachus and the egoist challenge
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Glossary
- 1 The puzzle of Plato's thumos
- 2 Thumos, andreia and the ethics of flourishing
- 3 Arms and the man: andreia in the Laches
- 4 Odd virtue out: courage and goodness in the Protagoras
- 5 Why should I be good? Callicles, Thrasymachus and the egoist challenge
- 6 Heroes and role models: the Apology, Hippias Major and Hippias Minor
- 7 The threat of Achilles
- 8 Plato's response: the valuable as one
- 9 Alcibiades' revenge: thumos in the Symposium
- Epilogue: The weaver's art: andreia in the Politicus and Laws
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
MAN AND SUPERMAN
At first sight, it may seem rather odd to claim that Callicles is an example of thumoeidic tendencies gone astray; it may seem more plausible to view him as a forerunner, not of the thumos, but of the pleasure-seeking epithumētikon. After all, from 491e to 492c Plato puts into his mouth what appears to be one of the most forceful exhortations to hedonism ever made. The man who would live rightly, Callicles asserts,
should let his desires grow as great as possible and not restrain them, and be capable of ministering to them when they are at their height … and of satisfying each desire in turn with what it wants.
One might imagine that a life devoted to such relentless sybaritic indulgence could hold little time for the thumoeidic pursuit of worldly success and honours. Yet at 484d Callicles makes it plain that a man should aspire to be a well-respected kalos k'agathos, and to this end should emulate men who possess wealth and reputation (486c–d) – a remark which is significant not only for the content of its ideal, but also because it shows that he is interested in ideals and role models in the first place. His chosen route, furthermore, is the energy-consuming one of politics: at 515a we are told that he has just embarked on a political career, and at 481d that he is in love with the Athenian dēmos.
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- Plato and the HeroCourage, Manliness and the Impersonal Good, pp. 137 - 174Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000