Virtue and Happiness in Socrates’ Moral Thought

Abstract

The question of “what is happiness?” is among the most important questions of Greek philosophy. In those early works of Plato that very likely represent the views of Socrates, Socrates mainly focuses on moral issues and tries to get close to an explanation of the nature of virtue (or virtues), the happy life and the relation between virtue (or virtues) and the realization of happiness (Eudemonia). Given the Principle of Eudemonism, in this paper it is tried to examine Socrates’ views on the relation between virtue and happiness and defend what is known as the “Principle of the Sovereignty of Virtue”.

Keywords

• Morality
• happiness (Eudemonia)
• virtue
• sufficiency of virtue
• external goods
• wisdom