Richard Kraut
Contributor
Website : Richard Kraut at Northwestern University
Charles and Emma Morrison Professor in the Humanities, Northwestern University. Author of Socrates and the State, How to Read Plato, and others.
Primary Contributions (2)
Socrates ancient Greek philosopher whose way of life, character, and thought exerted a profound influence on Classical antiquity and Western philosophy. Socrates was a widely recognized and controversial figure in his native Athens, so much so that he was frequently mocked in the plays of comic…
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Publications (4)
Socrates and the State
This fresh outlook on Socrates' political philosophy in Plato's early dialogues argues that it is both more subtle and less authoritarian than has been supposed. Focusing on the Crito, Richard Kraut shows that Plato explains Socrates' refusal to escape from jail and his acceptance of the death penalty as arising not from a philosophy that requires blind obedience to every legal command but from a highly balanced compromise between the state and the citizen. In addition, Professor Kraut...
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Against Absolute Goodness (Oxford Moral Theory)
Richard Kraut Argues That Goodness Is Not A Reason-giving Property--in Fact, There May Be No Such Thing. Moore And The Idea Of Goodness -- Goodness Before And After Moore -- An Argument For Absolute Goodness -- Absolute Evil, Relative Goodness -- Recent Skepticism About Goodness -- Being Good And Being Good For Someone -- Noninstrumental Advantageousness -- The Problem Of Intelligibility -- The Problem Of Double Value -- Pleasure Reconsidered -- Scanlon's Buck-passing Account Of Value -- Moore's...
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