{"product_id":"the-virtue-of-agency-christopher-moore-9780197663509","title":"The Virtue of Agency: S?phrosun? and Self-Constitution in Classical Greece","description":"\u003cem\u003eSôphrosunê\u003c\/em\u003e (\"self-discipline\") is the often-forgotten sibling of justice, wisdom, courage, and piety in discussions of canonical Greek virtues. Christopher Moore shows that during the classical period it was the object of significant debate--about its scope, its feel, its practical manifestations, and its value. By interpreting \u003cem\u003esôphrosunê\u003c\/em\u003e as a commitment to norm-following, we see that these pointed discussions of the virtue, previously ignored as parodic moralizing or expressions of political propaganda, are in fact concerned with the ideal of human agency. These discussions query the way we become fully responsible for our actions. Greek thinking about \u003cem\u003esôphrosunê\u003c\/em\u003e becomes thinking about self-constitution, our crucial capacity to act on the general reasons that we come to identify with as our own. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis perspective explains \u003cem\u003esôphrosunê's\u003c\/em\u003e inclusion in Plato's canon of virtues, and before that its frequent appearance in funerary inscriptions, elegiac poetry, tragic drama, and historiography. It also explains the analytic attention given to it by Heraclitus, the Sophists, the historians, Socrates, Xenophon, and Plato. Moore deals principally with the classical period, though the book includes one chapter addressing earlier poetry and another addressing the virtue in two gender-sensitive post-classical works. An appendix deals with the epigraphic material. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFor the Greeks (and perhaps for us) there is a virtue of agency, an acquirable capacity to be guided by what's best. Hardly just a concern for reticence and reserve, commitment to \u003cem\u003esôphrosunê\u003c\/em\u003e is a commitment to whatever it is that makes us truly ourselves.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Christopher Moore\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0197663508\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780197663509\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/07\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 408\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.52lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.34h x 6.44w x 1.22d","brand":"Christopher Moore","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46602801185023,"sku":"9780197663509","price":110.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_4289bd4f-9ce5-42c9-a735-db9d3b923de2.jpg?v=1739695331","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-virtue-of-agency-christopher-moore-9780197663509","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}