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Thus, the author shares the opinion of Gosling (1973: 77) who further argued that: The English word ‘courage’ does not convey the ‘manly’ dimension which Plato meant, a theme elaborated in the Gorgias (491-2, 512e) and in the Republic (359b, 544-50). With respect to ‘ andreia’, a translation more faithful in spirit to the original Greek as used by Plato, is ‘manliness’. These are the principal individual ‘virtues’ which Socrates consistently discusses in the dialogues. It included ‘ dikaiosune’ (justice), ‘ andreia’ (courage), ‘ sophrosune’ (temperance), ‘ hosia’ (piety), and ‘ sophia’ (wisdom).

Given the language barrier to read the original text, the translations by Vlastos (1956), Hubbard and Karnofsk (1984), and Taylor (1991) were used.įor the ancient Greeks, ‘virtue’, translated as ‘ arete’, was a term applied in ethical contexts. In the debate, the word ‘ sophia’, meaning ‘wisdom’, and the word ‘ episteme’, meaning ‘knowledge’, are used interchangeably (Hubbard and Karnofsk 1984: 134). The argument has two parts: Socrates arguing for the identity of courage and knowledge (349e-350c) and Protagoras objecting to same (350c-351b). This research focuses on the first argument, the subject of notable scholarship (O’Brien 1961, Vlastos 1972, Devereux 1975, Wolfsdorf 2006), which opens by defining the most pivotal term of the debate, namely ‘ andreia’. The first in 349d-351b whilst the second in 358d-360e. He then put forth two arguments for the unity of courage and wisdom. In Protagoras (328d-334c), Socrates argued for the unity of justice and piety, of wisdom and self-control, and of self-control and justice. The latter is one of the themes in the Protagoras, a thesis which has been widely interpreted (Vlastos 1972, Penner 1973, Woodruff 1977). He put forward two broad queries concerning virtues, one relating to their instrumentality and the other relating to their unity. One of the themes in Plato’s philosophy is the doctrine of the unity of the ‘virtues’. PDF Key words: unity thesis, similarity thesis, biconditionality thesis, virtue, courage, wisdom, knowledge. The key to understand Socrates’ position lies in exposing the confusion which exists in the debate whereby knowledge, which is used interchangeabl for wisdom, is equated to courage. The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between these two ‘virtues’. In 349d-351b he puts the first argument for the unity of courage with wisdom. One cannot have one of these ‘virtues’ without having all of the rest.

In the Protagoras Socrates argues for the unity of the ‘virtues’ whereby all are one.

It is a doctrine which has been extensively studied and with various interpretations to the thesis contained therein. ( University of Malta e-mail: The doctrine of the unity of the ‘virtues’ is one of the themes in Plato’s dialogues.

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