ABSTRACT
According to the Philosopher Claim, if false beliefs are valuable, they are only valuable for non-philosophers. This chapter tackles this claim by arguing that the beneficial falsehoods of the Republic are fundamental to philosophers’ virtuous dispositions. More precisely, it is argued that philosophers believe the falsehoods of the noble lie in the non-reasoning part of their souls and that these false beliefs have positive ethical value because this part of the soul is too unsophisticated to grasp the complete truth. Thus, the non-reasoning part of a philosopher’s soul requires false beliefs in the same way that a non-philosopher requires false beliefs. This chapter includes discussion of issues related to doxastic voluntarism, moral psychology, and the noble lie.
