摘要：Through interpretive readings of Plato's Protagoras and Gorgias I demonstrate how the character of Socrates manages to reveal a deep concern for virtue in even his mo st apparently nihilistic interlocutors. I suggest that these dialogues ask us to consider the possibility of a universal human concern for goodness that transcends or collapses the nomos/phusis distinction¨C¨Cone that must be diligently, even courageously attended to if our lives are to be effectively applied towards a virtuous ideal of self and society. To conclude I contrast my readings with those that see Plato as the stern ratio nalist¨C¨Cthe unwavering proponent of techn¨¦¨C¨Cand I open the question of what knowledge of virtue and goodness might entail: Are justice and goodness knowable to us purely by rational means. Might ethics be subject to some manner of measurement or counting, like the technical arts, in order to ensure its epistemic stability. Is a science of ethics possible. Or do virtue and self-knowledge entail a different kind of understanding in which reason and technical thinking play limited roles
