Pleasure in ancient Greek philosophy /

Platonic scholars will like this book best, but it appeals to a range of scholars--from students wanting a summary of pre-Socratic, Aristotelian, Epicurean, or Stoic views on pleasure, to those interested in a broader context for the treatment of pleasure by 20th-century philosophers, such as Gilbert Ryle, Bernard Williams, and their critics. Wolfsdorf (Temple Univ.) shines in the two chapters devoted to Plato, which begin with portrayals of pleasure as restorative in book IX of the Republic and then skillfully collect evidence from other dialogues. Wolfsdorf teases out the mechanics of "somatic, extero-ceptive" pleasure from Timaeus without conflating that discussion with the Philebus's more ontological questions of true and false pleasures that hinge on a distinction between the core (what pleasure is) and the appearance (feeling) aspects of pleasure. Since pleasure is restorative, it cannot be good in itself, only instrumentally: a core Platonic principle, illuminated by Wolfsdorf's analysis. The concluding chapter compares the ancient tradition and more recent work. Wolfsdorf's book extends a genre exemplified by Julia Annas (Morality of Happiness, CH, Feb'94, 31-3189), pursuing an understanding of why the ancient arguments are at once compelling and alien to contemporary problems. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty. P. W. Wakefield Emory University