Unit 4 Individual Homework Name: Valery Cajuste UIN: 815092249
Read the Assignment Instructions on CANVAS before completing the Homework!!
Part I: Find a passage where Socrates uses the following criteria to criticize Hippias’ proposed definitions of fineness, and write about it as described in your Assignment Instructions
A. The definition should be absolute – Naming something that is always fine, not fine in one situation but not fine in another.
a. In Hippias major one of the definitions that Hippias proposes is that fineness is usefulness. Page 295 From “So are we right in saying it is …” to “…from childhood onward”
b. This passage is showing that not all things that are thought as useful are also thought as fine. For example it is useful to know how hotwire cars but that is not considered a fine thing or knowing how to kill someone might eventually be
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The definition should not be too narrow – It should cover every example of fineness, not just some of them.
a. Hippias defines fine as a fine looking girl on Pages 287 from “taking you examples of fine things…”to “…what about a fine lyre? Isn’t it a fine thing?”
b. This Definition is too narrow because it does not take into consideration the many other fine things that are not a girl. People say that a painting is a fine or that a horse is fine. The definition needs to expand past just beautiful women.
C. The definition should not be too broad – It should cover only things that are fine, and not other things in addition.
a. The proposal that fineness is usefulness on page 295 from “So are we right in saying it is …” to “…from childhood onward”
b. This passage is way too broad because there are a lot of things that are considered useful but are not exactly fine. The definition need to explain what kind of usefulness is considered fine.
Part II: Write a paragraph stating which definition of fineness you consider to be the strongest, and explaining why, as described in the Assignment