Socrates on Self-Improvement

This book explains in clear language with appropriate scholarly attention to detail how and why Socrates continues to be a foundational figure in western philosophy, and especially in ethics and epistemology. It argues that the craft-model of knowledge offers a viable and potent theoretical basis for practical and ethical self-improvement.

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What model of knowledge does Plato's Socrates use? In this book, Nicholas D. Smith argues that it is akin to knowledge of a craft which is acquired by degrees, rather than straightforward knowledge of facts. He contends that a failure to recognize and identify this model, and attempts to ground ethical success in contemporary accounts of propositional or informational knowledge, have led to distortions of Socrates' philosophical mission to improve himself and others in the domain of practical ethics. He shows that the model of craft-knowledge makes sense of a number of issues scholars have struggled to understand, and makes a case for attributing to Socrates a very sophisticated and plausible view of the improvability of the human condition.