ABSTRACT
According to the contemporary historical account, Socrates' distinction was to bring philosophy down from the heavens by asking questions about piety and impiety, the good, the shameful, and justice and injustice. 1 In the process, philosophy both identified and criticized those ideals that guide the conduct of human affairs. In our time, this identifying and criticizing can appropriately be brought to bear on sustainability, an ideal now widely appealed to in contemporary social and political discussions of the environment.
