The Modern Scholar

Plato and Aristotle: The Genesis of Western Thought

By: Prof. Aryeh Kosman

Narrated by: Richard M. Davidson

This course is an introduction to the philosophical thought of the two most important philosophical figures of ancient Greece. By working through parts of their central texts and thoughts, we will gain an understanding of Plato and Aristotle's relevance in the past and today as well.

After each section of this guide, you will find some questions and suggestions for further thought. There is no right or wrong answer to most of these questions; they're designed merely to offer suggestions for how you might think further about the reading and about what was discussed in the lecture. In each case, you will, of course, find the questions more or less accessible depending on whether or not you were able to read the dialogue as well as listen to the lecture. You may find it interesting not to stop with these particular questions, but to use them as models to think further on your own or with others about the issues and questions raised by these lectures.

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2004 Aryeh Kosman (P)2004 Recorded Books, LLC

Very professional

Would you listen to The Modern Scholar again? Why?

I love how he broke down the words translated from Greek. There is not exact translation and Mr Kosman explains the Greek words very well.

THE MODERN SCHOLAR:PLATO AND ARISTOTLE

I haven't finished this yet, as I keep backing up to listen to parts again...it's WONDERFUL, and I wish that Audible had more of "The Modern Scholar" series to choose. If you want an easy and enjoyable way to improve yourself, you can't beat this. It's like being in a classroom with the most excellent professor you can imagine. TERRIFIC! And this Professor is FUNNY!!!! He's a riot, but you learn from the humorous parts as much as from the serious.

Forms a good solid foundation for further study.

This is an excellent survey of the works of Plato and Aristotle. While it did go into some of the specific works in depth, what I find more useful is that, to my mind, the author was giving me a foundation to explore the works in more depth by myself. To give one example out of many possible, through this series I first started to understand the theory of forms as a template for concepts rather than the vague assertions that I had gotten in other discussions of Plato's work. Now I can proceed into more detailed thinking about all of his works.

This is by no means an easy set of lectures to get through, not because the presentation is poor, but because the concepts are both important and subtle.

I listen to the lectures while walking daily, so I could not follow the notes (supplied in PDF format) but they are worth reviewing. Because I was distracted from listening while walking, I listened to some of the lectures several times to help fix the points in my mind.

I intend to listen to the works by Plato and Aristotle again, then listen to this series again. I am studying the foundations of Western Civilization for my own pleasure, not for any other goal. This is one of the few recorded lecture series I have purchased that I judge worth a detailed second listening as opposed to going on to a different subject.

Really interesting! clear , invites understanding

Really interesting! clear and invites understanding. insights comes along the listening and made me think about different issues.

Avoids religious undertones...

Excellent primer on each philosopher. Although Plato gets more airtime than Aristotle, Prof. Kosman is careful not to delve into the inescapable theistic conclusions to each philosopher's metaphysics.

Overall, the course is very fair, covering a huge array of topics passionately (his love for the topic is evident) and articulate (very complex and abstract topics are made understandable).