The Technical Conception of Virtue

Notes and Discussions THE TECHNICAL CONCEPTION OF VIRTUE In his book Plato's Moral Theory: The Early and Middle Dialogues, t Terence Irwin presents a challenging, original interpretation of the central moral concerns of these groups of dialogues. IrMn's arguments cast important new light upon the moral theory of the early dialogues (of "Socrates") in particular, and students of such issues as Socrates ' opinion of the precise relationship between virtue and happiness, or the precise workings of Socrates' view of rational desire and rational choice, will long be in Irwin's debt. But this is not to say that the most original or the most challenging aspects of Irwin's interpretation are always correct. The intention of this brief essay is to demonstrate some important respects in which his interpretation of Socrates falls wide of the mark. Irwin's portrayal of the Socrates of the early dialogues is most unusual and most original in the following respect. He argues that Socrates holds a "technical conception of virtue" (TV): "Happiness is a determinate end to which virtue prescribes instrumental means . . . or components already chosen under another description..." (p. 84). Irwin uses TV to argue that Socrates values virtue not in itself but only as an instrumental means to attain happiness (esp. p. 92). Irwin bases his interpretation on the Craft Analogy (CA). (All abbreviations are Irwin's.) A craft shoemaking, for instance--is a highly rational form of activity, a set series of procedures designed to achieve a recognized end, in light of which their effectiveness can be evaluated. Socrates holds virtue to be analogous to a craft. Therefore, it too must be an instrumental means to achieve a predetermined end. This essay will focus on TV, which is probably the central component of Irwin's account of Socratic ethics. What I will attempt to demonstrate is, quite simply, that Irwin has little or no evidence to support his attribution of this view to Socrates. The question of evidence here is especially important, in light of the fact that Irwin's view of Socrates runs sharply counter to traditional interpretations. We find in the Socratic dialogues a battery of statements to the effect that virtue is a sufficient condition for happiness (the "self-sufficiency of virtue" (see pp. 100-101). And the Socrates of most traditional accounts is the Socrates of the Apology and Crito, who willingly accepts death rather than commit injustice, who, according to the Apology, would be willing to die "many times over" (30b-c). The problem is that Irwin's instrumentalist account of virtue does not rest well with Socrates' faith in the self-sufficiency of virtue. Irwin is aware of the conflict here (see, e.g., pp. 101, 281), but he does not pursue it in Plato's Moral Theory, and it is a ' Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress, 1977. [951 96 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY serious weakness in his case. 2 Along similar lines, Irwin finds it to be no easy task to reconcile the CA and TV with the important Socratic doctrine that virtue is somehow 9inextricably bound up with the proper care of one's soul (cf. p. 93). In light of these difficulties with TV, it would require strong evidence indeed to make us believe that Socrates actually held it. And it seems to me that the most serious weakness of Irwin's position is the fact that he is not able to proffer this evidence. While Vlastos, especially, has done an impressive job of marshalling the evidence against TV, 3 I believe that an even more "effective critique of Irwin is to show how weak the evidence for TV is, and this is the purpose of this essay. It should be noted that, in concentrating on TV, I do not mean to endorse Irwin's other views, nor to suggest that TV is the only weak link in his chain of argument. It seems clear that many of Irwin's other claims are equally susceptible to criticism. But in light of the central role that TV plays in his overall account, it seems reasonable to devote exclusive attention to this, since the downfall of TV must bring in its wake the downfall of...