Source edition
Platonis Opera, Tomus II: Tetralogia III-IV. Burnet, John, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910.
Source data
Perseus Digital Library · CC BY-SA (per Perseus's terms)
Cloned and adapted by Humanitext, with ongoing edits.
Summary
This dialogue explores the true meaning and moral evaluation of "covetousness" (the love of gain, or *philokerdeia*) through a conversation between Socrates and an unnamed companion. The debate begins with the companion defining a covetous person as someone who tries to profit from worthless things. Socrates refutes this definition by employing various technical crafts as examples, which leads the inquiry toward the relationship between "gain" and "the good." After digressing into an anecdote about the Athenian ruler Hipparchus and his teachings against deception, the interlocutors re-examine the essence of gain. Ultimately, they agree that gain is equivalent to "the good" or the beneficial, concluding that since everyone desires the good, loving gain cannot justly be used as a term of reproach against others.