Protagoras and the challenge of relativism Plato's subtlest enemy - Zilioli, Ugo (Ashgate, 2007)
Includes bibliographical references (p. [147]-156) and index
Introduction : Protagoras, Plato and relativism -- Topic and aims -- Relativism -- Approaches to Plato -- Structure -- Perceptions and indeterminacy -- The historical Protagoras -- Sophistic training and philosophical education -- The digression -- Reading the Theaetetus -- Ontological relativism -- Ontological indeterminacy -- Historical plausibility explained further -- Differing dispositions -- Wisdom and incommensurability -- Protagoras in the Cratylus -- The defence -- Two fragments -- Incommensurability -- The 'objective standard' objection -- The (possible) answer -- The scope of Protagoras' relativism -- Ethics and forms of life -- Ethical relativism -- The myth -- Virtue and technique -- Subjectivism and emotivism -- Forms of life -- Radical use -- Inconsistency, self-refutation and the heart of the matter -- Plato's objections -- Protagoras and inconsistency -- Saying and showing -- Health -- Advantage -- Democratic knowledge -- Illusory wisdom -- The self-refutation argument -- Conclusions : the tools of relativism