Virtue, Deception, and Knowledge in Plato's Hippias Minor

Authors

  • Francesco Fronterotta Sapienza – Università di Roma, Roma, Itália

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14195/1984-249X_12_9

Keywords:

Virtue, knowledge, sincerity, duplicity, sophistry

Abstract

The Lesser Hippias presents the conversation that takes place at the conclusion of a conference held by Hippias on Homeric poems to a number of people. Socrates wants to interrogate the sophist about a particular aspect of his Homeric exegesis, that of the description of the characters of Achilles and of Ullysses: the first, the more simple and sincere (or veracious, haploustatos kaì alethéstatos) would be better than the last, who is double (polútropos). The simplicity of Achilles should reveal sincerity, while the duplicity (or rather the multiplicity, polú-tropos) of Ullyses would indicate an ambiguous character and deceiver. So it seems that to him who knows plenty belongs the capacity of deceiving, precisely by using his multitude of knowledge, while sincerity would constitute a specific trait of him who, not possessing lots of knowledge, can only reveal himself for what he is. The ethical paradox that derivates from this will be examined by means of an analysis of the arguments developed in the dialogue.

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References

BALAUDÉ, J.-F. (1998) Que veut montrer Socrate dans l’Hippoas mineur? In: GIANNANTONI, G, & NARCY, M. (ed.), Lezioni socratiche. Naples, Bibliopolis, p. 261-77.CALOGERO, G. (1984) Introduzione all’ Ippia minore (1938). In: CALOGERGO, G., Scritti minori di filosofia antica. Naples, Bibliopolis, p. 284-92.ZYSKIND, H.; STERNFELD, R. (1976) Plato’s Meno 89c: ‘Virtue is knwoledge’ a hypothesis?. Phronesis, n. 21/2, p. 130-134.

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Published

2025-11-29

How to Cite

Fronterotta, F. (2025). Virtue, Deception, and Knowledge in Plato’s Hippias Minor. Revista Archai, (12), 85. https://doi.org/10.14195/1984-249X_12_9

Issue

No. 12 (2014): No. 12 (2014): Revista Archai nº12 (January, 2014)

Section

Dossier

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Copyright (c) 2025 Francesco Fronterotta

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