Format: In-person
Chair: Artur Harris
Abstract: Hippias of Elis was renowned throughout Greece for his expertise in mathematics, astronomy, history, mnemonics, rhetoric, poetry, and politics, as well as his success as an ambassador and as—according to Plato—the best-paid sophist in Greek history. In many ways, Hippias represents the Greek ideal of kalos (“beauty”), in that he has achieved wealth, honour, power, wisdom, and physical health. However, Plato’s portrayal of Hippias in the Hippias Major paints a different picture, depicting him as arrogant, intellectually shallow, and lacking in any real beauty. This raises an interesting puzzle for Plato: how can a person who has many beautiful qualities and pursues beautiful activities, nonetheless fail to be a truly beautiful person. In my presentation, I aim to explore this theme by comparing Hippias to the Lovers of Sights and Sounds in Republic Book V, investigating the distinction between admiring beauty and knowing it. I argue that because Hippias and the Lovers of Sights and Sounds lack a unified understanding of beauty, they fail to be true lovers of beauty and, therefore, fail to become beautiful themselves.
