The definition of a closed category I'm using is [here](http://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/closed+category). 

Suppose $V$ is a closed category and that for each object $b\in V$, $[b,-]$ has a left adjoint $- \otimes b$. The result is nearly a monoidal category, but the associator $\alpha \colon (a \otimes b) \otimes c \rightarrow a \otimes (b \otimes c)$ [is not generally an isomorphism](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1329068/going-from-closed-categories-to-monoidal-categories).

**Question:** Can we modify the definition of closed category directly so that whenever the adjoint above exists, result is always closed monoidal?

I know that we can fix this by requiring the adjunction to be "internal" in the sense that we have a natural isomorphism $\Phi \colon [a \otimes b, c] \rightarrow [a, [b, c]]$ but I'd rather there not be an asymmetry between closed and monoidal categories, since we can get from monoidal to closed by only demanding an ordinary adjuntion.

**Edit:** In light of my answer below, I've decided this question needed clarifying. What I want is some additional structure or property added to the axioms of a closed category such that

1) If $V$ is monoidal and $- \otimes b$ has a right adjoint $[b, -]$, then $[-,-]$ makes $V$ into this modified closed category

2) If $V$ is this modified closed category and $[b, -]$ has a left adjoint $-\otimes b$, then $-\otimes-$ makes $V$ into a monoidal category.

In the current state of affairs, 1 holds but 2 does not. With the additional property proposed in my answer below, 2 holds, but 1 does not.