Goodness And Beauty In Plato

Authors

  • Nicholas Riegel Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brasil.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14195/1984--249X_12_15

Keywords:

Plato, beauty, goodness, coextension, mathematics

Abstract

In the first part of this paper I argue that beauty and goodness are at least coextensive for Plato. That means that at least with respect to concrete particulars, everything that is good is beautiful and everything that is beautiful is good. Though the good and the beautiful are coextensive, there is evidence that they are not identical. In the second part of the paper I show significance of this relation. In ethics it implies that the good is the right. It also allows one to see how platonists can believe that goodness exists in mathematics. And it explains the usefulness of mathematics in moral education.

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References

BARNES, J. (1984) ed. The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation. Princeton, Princeton University.BARNEY, R. The Fine and the Good. Forthcoming.COLLINGWOOD, R. G. (1925) Plato’s Philosophy of Art. Mind, n.34, p. 154 - 72.COOPER, J. M. (1997) ed. Plato: Complete Works. Indianapolis, Hackett.DODDS, E. R. (1959) Plato: Gorgias. A Revised Text with Introduction and Commentary. Oxford, Clarendon.FREDE, D. (1993) Plato: Philebus. Indianapolis, Hackett.GOSLING, J. C. B. (1975) Plato: Philebus. Translated with Notes and Commentary. Oxford, Clarendon.GUTHRIE, W. K. C. (1969) A History of Greek Philosophy. VI vols. Vol. III, Cambridge, Cambridge University.IRWIN, T. (1979) Plato: Gorgias. Oxford, Oxford University.JANAWAY, C. (1995) Images of Excellence: Plato’s Critique of the Arts. Oxford, Clarendon.LAMB, W. R. M. (1925) Plato: Lysis, Symposium, Gorgias. London, Heinemann.PENNER, T.; ROWE, C. (2005) Plato’s Lysis. Cambridge, Cambridge University, 2005.RIEGEL, N. (2011) Beauty, to Kalon, and Its Relation to the Good in the Works of Plato. Dissertation, University of Toronto.SACHS, J. (s.d.) Aristotle: Ethics. Disponível em: http://www.iep.utm.edu/aris-eth/.SCOTT, D. (2006) Plato’s Meno. Cambridge, Cambridge University.VLASTOS, G. (1995) Was Polus Refuted. In Studies in Greek Philosophy: Socrates, Plato, and Their Tradition, edited by Daniel Graham. Princeton, Princeton University.WOODRUFF, P. (1982) Plato: Hippias Major. Oxford, Blackwell.

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Published

2025-11-29

How to Cite

Riegel, N. (2025). Goodness And Beauty In Plato . Revista Archai, (12), 143. https://doi.org/10.14195/1984--249X_12_15

Issue

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

Section

Dossier

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Copyright (c) 2025 Nicholas Riegel

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