Practices of Reason: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics

This book is an exploration of the epistemological, metaphysical, and psychological foundations of the Nicomachean Ethics. In a striking reversal of current orthodoxy, Reeve argues that scientific knowledge (episteme) is possible in ethics, that dialectic and understanding (nous) play essentially the same role in ethics as in an Aristotelian science, and that the distinctive role of practical wisdom (phronesis) is to use the knowledge of universals provided by science, dialectic, and understanding so as to best promote happiness (eudaimonia) in particular circumstances and to ensure a happy life. Turning to happiness itself, Reeves develops a new account of Aristotle's views on ends and functions, exposing their twofold nature. He argues that the activation of theoretical wisdom is primary happiness, and that the activation of practical wisdom--when it is for the sake of primary happiness--is happiness of a secondary kind. He concludes with an account of the virtues of character, external goods, and friends, and their place in the happy life.

Politics & Social Sciences

REEVE, C.D.C.

Philosophy

Clarendon Press

This book is an exploration of the epistemological, metaphysical, and psychological foundations of the Nicomachean Ethics. In a striking reversal of current orthodoxy, Reeve argues that scientific knowledge (episteme) is possible in ethics, that dialectic and understanding (nous) play essentially the same role in ethics as in an Aristotelian science, and that the distinctive role of practical wisdom (phronesis) is to use the knowledge of universals provided by science, dialectic, and understanding so as to best promote happiness (eudaimonia) in particular circumstances and to ensure a happy life. Turning to happiness itself, Reeves develops a new account of Aristotle's views on ends and functions, exposing their twofold nature. He argues that the activation of theoretical wisdom is primary happiness, and that the activation of practical wisdom--when it is for the sake of primary happiness--is happiness of a secondary kind. He concludes with an account of the virtues of character, external goods, and friends, and their place in the happy life.

Oxford University Press

Are the just happier than the unjust? In Plato' s Republic, Thrasymachus argues that they aren't, that justice is simply the advantage of the stronger. Though Socrates apparently refutes him, Plato's brothers, Glaucon and Adeimantus, take up his argument anew, challenging Socrates to show them that justice really does better further happiness than injustice. The nature of this renewed challenge and the reason for it are hotly debated problems. Equally problematic is the question of whether Socrates succeeds in meeting the challenge in the crucial case of the philosopher-kings, whom he claims are happiest of all. Central to his attempt is a complex tripartite psychology and the yet more complex the metaphysics and epistemology of transcendent Platonic forms. But just how these are to be understood or how knowledge of such forms could help the philosopher-kings with the practical business of governing a city also remain deeply problematic issues. Beginning with a discussion of Socrates in the Apology, and his portrait by Alcibiades in the Symposium, and proceeding to topics more directly within the Republic itself, Blindness and Reorientation develops not just powerful new solutions to these problems, but a new understanding of Plato's conception of philosophy, its relationship to craft-knowledge, and the roles of dialectic and experience within it. Written in a clear and vivid style, C. D. C. Reeve's new book will be accessible to any committed reader of Plato.

Blindness and Reorientation: Problems in Plato's Republic

History

Ancient Civilizations

Love's confusions are legion. We promise to love, but we cannot love at will. Love God, we're commanded, but we cannot love on command. And given the vicissitudes of self-love, even if we could love our neighbors as we love ourselves, would it be a good thing to do so? These are a few of the paradoxes that typically lead philosophers to oversimplify love--and that draw C. D. C. Reeve to explore it in all its complexity, searching for the lessons to be found within love's confusions. 
 Ranging from Plato, who wrote so eloquently on the subject, to writers as diverse as Shakespeare, Proust, Forster, Beckett, Huxley, Lawrence, and Larkin, Reeve brings the vast resources of Western literature and philosophy to bear on the question of love. As he explores the origins of Western thought on the subject, he also turns to the origins of individual experience--the relationship of mother and child, the template of all possible permutations of love--and to the views of such theorists as Freud, Melanie Klein, and Carol Gilligan. At the same time, he uses the story of the prototypical absent father, Odysseus, to demonstrate the importance of reconciling a desire for tenderness with a desire for strength if we are to make the most of love's potentials. 
 Looking at love in light of the classical world and Christianity, and in its complex relationship with pornography, violence, sadomasochism, fantasy, sentimentality, and jealousy, Reeve invites us to think more broadly about love, and to find the confusions that inevitably result to be creative rather than disturbing.

Love's Confusions

Parenting & Relationships

Harvard University Press

Love's confusions are legion. We promise to love, but we cannot love at will. Love God, we're commanded, but we cannot love on command. And given the vicissitudes of self-love, even if we could love our neighbors as we love ourselves, would it be a good thing to do so? These are a few of the paradoxes that typically lead philosophers to oversimplify love--and that draw C. D. C. Reeve to explore it in all its complexity, searching for the lessons to be found within love's confusions. 
Ranging from Plato, who wrote so eloquently on the subject, to writers as diverse as Shakespeare, Proust, Forster, Beckett, Huxley, Lawrence, and Larkin, Reeve brings the vast resources of Western literature and philosophy to bear on the question of love. As he explores the origins of Western thought on the subject, he also turns to the origins of individual experience--the relationship of mother and child, the template of all possible permutations of love--and to the views of such theorists as Freud, Melanie Klein, and Carol Gilligan. At the same time, he uses the story of the prototypical absent father, Odysseus, to demonstrate the importance of reconciling a desire for tenderness with a desire for strength if we are to make the most of love's potentials.
Looking at love in light of the classical world and Christianity, and in its complex relationship with pornography, violence, sadomasochism, fantasy, sentimentality, and jealousy, Reeve invites us to think more broadly about love, and to find the confusions that inevitably result to be creative rather than disturbing.

The notion of practical wisdom is one of Aristotle's greatest inventions. It has inspired philosophers as diverse as Martin Heidegger, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Elizabeth Anscombe, Michael Thompson, and John McDowell. Now a leading scholar of ancient philosophy offers a challenge to received accounts of practical wisdom by situating it in the larger context of Aristotle's views on knowledge and reality. 
That happiness is the end pursued by practical wisdom is commonly agreed. What is disputed is whether happiness is to be found in the practical life of political action, in which we exhibit courage, temperance, and other virtues of character, or in the contemplative life, where theoretical wisdom is the essential virtue. C. D. C. Reeve argues that the dichotomy is bogus, that these lives are in fact parts of a single life, which is the best human one. In support of this view, he develops innovative accounts of many of the central notions in Aristotle's metaphysics, epistemology, and psychology, including matter and form, scientific knowledge, dialectic, educatedness, perception, understanding, political science, practical truth, deliberation, and deliberate choice. These accounts are based directly on freshly translated passages from many of Aristotle's writings. Action, Contemplation, and Happiness is an accessible essay not just on practical wisdom but on Aristotle's philosophy as a whole.

Action, Contemplation, and Happiness: An Essay on Aristotle

Philosopher-Kings: The Argument of Plato's Republic

The distinctive aim of Philosopher-Kings is to show, by giving a rational reconstruction of its overall argument, that the Republic is not the flawed patchwork it is usually made out to be by interpreters, but a deeply consistent and systematic work, which raises fundamental problems for philosophy and develops powerful and probing solutions to them. The book's central innovative thesis is that Plato's psychology, more specifically his theory of desires, holds the key to this, his most ambitious work. "Although the Republic has come to seem frazzled from too much use in introductory courses, in Reeve's hands it is new and refreshing".--Paul Woodruff, Ancient Philosophy "Although the philosopher-kings of Reeve's title are central to the argument of this handsomely produced book, it is in reality nothing less than a complete reinterpretation of the Republic. . . . [Reeve], if I understand him correctly, has the temerity to work on the principle that Plato was a philosopher of genius, and

Princeton University Press

The distinctive aim of Philosopher-Kings is to show, by giving a rational reconstruction of its overall argument, that the Republic is not the flawed patchwork it is usually made out to be by interpreters, but a deeply consistent and systematic work, which raises fundamental problems for philosophy and develops powerful and probing solutions to them. The book's central innovative thesis is that Plato's psychology, more specifically his theory of desires, holds the key to this, his most ambitious work. "Although the Republic has come to seem frazzled from too much use in introductory courses, in Reeve's hands it is new and refreshing."--Paul Woodruff, Ancient Philosophy "Although the philosopher-kings of Reeve's title are central to the argument of this handsomely produced book, it is in reality nothing less than a complete reinterpretation of the Republic. . . . [Reeve], if I understand him correctly, has the temerity to work on the principle that Plato was a philosopher of genius, and that therefore a reading which makes coherence and sense of what he wrote is more likely to be acceptable than one which does not."--R.S.W. Hawtrey, The Classical Review

"Reeve's book is an excellent companion to Plato's Apology and a valuable discussion of many of the main issues that arise in the early dialogues. Reeve is an extremely careful reader of texts, and his familiarity with the legal and cultural background of Socrates' trial allows him to correct many common misunderstandings of that event. In addition, he integrates his reading of the apology with a sophisticated discussion of Socrates' philosophy. The writing is clear and succinct, and the research is informed by a thorough acquaintance with the secondary literature. Reeve's book will be accessible to any serious undergraduate, but it is also a work that will have to be taken into account by every scholar doing advanced research on Socrates." --Richard Kraut, Northwestern University

Socrates in the Apology: An Essay on Plato's Apology of Socrates

Literature & Fiction

Essays & Correspondence

Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by REEVE, C.D.C.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by REEVE, C.D.C.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by REEVE, C.D.C.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Practices of Reason: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics

Practices of Reason: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics

Blindness and Reorientation: Problems in Plato's Republic

Love's Confusions

Love's Confusions

Action, Contemplation, and Happiness: An Essay on Aristotle

Philosopher-Kings: The Argument of Plato's Republic

Philosopher-Kings: The Argument of Plato's Republic

Socrates in the Apology: An Essay on Plato's Apology of Socrates

Socrates in the Apology: An Essay on Plato's Apology of Socrates