Moral Psychology

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Moral Psychology

• Session 2b
• The Moral Psychology in the Polus Section of the
  Gorgias

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Thus far..

• Callicles introduces distinctions between two
  (pre-moral) senses of good
• conventional -- good means in accordance
  with what is conventionally approved in society
  X
• natural -- good means in accordance with
  what I want.
• Socrates has argued for the existence of
  objective standards of better/worse lives.

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Clarification of Objective/ Subjective Good

• Distinguish two senses of subjective
• A) Different from person to person
• B) Determined by personal taste or opinion
• Socrates has argued that there is a question of
  one life being better than another objectively
  only in the sense (B) of not being reducible to
  what anyone wants or believes.
• Fully compatible with different lives being
  objectively good for different people! Socrates
  has not said that there is a universal
  life-prescription!

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Today

• Go back to the Polus section of the dialog
• Try to tease out the lineaments of a moral
  psychology in the ideas Socrates puts forth
• May or may not be a view Plato ever held himself,
  or meant to recommend to us, but an important and
  influential one.
• Key conclusion virtue consists in knowledge of
  the good. (But how argued?)

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The Context

• Socrates has amazed and confused Polus (and
  perhaps the reader!) by holding
• That dictators and orators are in fact not happy,
  but miserable (indeed, the most miserable!)
• That dictators and orators do what they please
  and do what they think best, yet do not do
  what they will
• That they are the least powerful people in the
  state!

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Textual Questions

• What is the distinction between doing what you
  think best and doing what you will?
• Why do dictators and orators have one but lack
  the other?
• What would they need to have to do what they
  will?
• What does Socrates mean by power?
• How does he conclude that orators and dictators
  lack power?
• What does real power consist in?
• What is the connection to happiness and the good
  life?

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What you think best/will

• Explained in terms of means-ends analysis (466ff)
• In any action, we will not the means, but the end
  we are aiming at.
• We undertake a means to an end, not for its own
  sake, but because we think it the best way to
  achieve the end.

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What you think best/will

• Socrates seems to go beyond analysis of
  individual cases of action (like building a
  wall), and postulate an ultimate aim of all our
  actions
• What we ultimately will is the good (468)
• Seems cashed out here in terms of benefits to
  self
• Leaves open the question of what the good will
  consist in, or how to go about it.

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Is Socrates being slippery here?

• men performneutral acts as a means to the good
  can mean
• A) In each case, there is some good end (like
  protecting the city or making money) that is
  aimed at when we undertake neutral acts like
  walking or building.
• B) There is this ultimate and overarching goal of
  the Good (or benefit to self)
• Means/ends analysis arguably only licenses (a),
  not (b)

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Perhaps not so crazy?

• We all ultimately desire what is best for us,
  even though we may have only vague (or
  erroneous!) ideas of what that might turn out to
  be.
• We act on our best beliefs about what is going to
  bring about this ultimate benefit for ourselves.

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Two ways you can fail to reach the good

• You dont have the ability to bring about the
  means you undertake -- e.g., you try to walk to
  Athens, but cant walk that far, or try to
  persuade the assembly, but fail. (This is where
  skills like oratory help you out!)
• You execute the means you chose, but find out
  that you miscalculated, and the means dont bring
  about the desired end.

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Orators and Dictators

• Their skills/authority helps them be effective
  in executing their actions
• But it does not assure that they will actually
  benefit themselves
• This would require that they choose effective
  means to self-improvement
• Here, at best, they are no better off than anyone
  else. (Perhaps worse off??)

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Power

• Power the ability to bring about some benefit
  to oneself (466b)
• I.e., the ability to bring about what you will
• Hence, dictators and orators abilities dont
  amount to power, since they dont assure that
  they will choose the right means to the end of
  benefiting themselves.
• (Less clear why they are least powerful in
  state-- I.e., less powerful than others.)

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Platos Moral Psychology (1)
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Primacy of Psychology in Plato

• Theory of the psyche comes first
• Seems to imply things about ethics, practice
• If
• 1) everyone wills the Good
• 2) everyone always does what they think best
• Then
• 3) anyone who knows what is good will do it
• 4) the only cause of moral error is ignorance

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Plato Mor. Psych (2)
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Implications for Therapy

• Must employ some means of
• A) Curing error and illusion
• B) Gaining knowledge about the Good
• Socratic discussion seems to be good for (A) at
  least.
• This discussion is most important activity one
  can undertake (488, 528)

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Limitations?

• Not clear that Socratic method can move us beyond
  the recognition of contradictions in our own
  views, and into new insights.
• Very little has been said in the Gorgias about
  the positive side of what the good life is, or
  how to go about acquiring it.
• (Concerned with justice (medicine of the soul)
  rather than legislation (training of soul?)