Showing results by author "Plato" in All Categories

Hippias of Elis travels throughout the Greek world practicing and teaching the art of making beautiful speeches. On a rare visit to Athens, he meets Socrates, who questions him about the nature of his art. Socrates is especially curious about how Hippias would define beauty. They agree that beauty makes all beautiful things beautiful, but when Socrates presses him to say precisely what he means, Hippias is unable to deliver such a definition.

The Apology of Socrates was written by Plato. In fact, it's a defensive speech of Socrates that he said in a court noted down by Plato. The main subject of the speech is a problem of the evil. Socrates insists that neither death nor death sentence is evil. We shouldn't be afraid of the death because we don't know anything about it. Socrates proved that the death shouldn't be taken as the evil with the following dilemma: the death is either a peace or a transit from this life to the next. Both can't be called evil. Consequently, the death shouldn't be treated as evil.

Gorgias of Leontini, a famous teacher of rhetoric, has come to Athens to recruit students, promising to teach them how to become leaders in politics and business. A group has gathered at Callicles' house to hear Gorgias demonstrate the power of his art. This dialogue blends comic and serious discussion of the best life, providing a penetrating examination of ethics. Is it better to suffer evil or to do evil? Is it better to do something wrong and avoid being caught or to be caught and punished? Is pleasure the same as goodness?

Meno is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato. In it, the two characters, Meno and Socrates, discuss "arete", or virtue. This dialogue is also famous for introducing "Meno's Paradox".

Delve into the philosophical dialogue of Plato's "Phaedrus." This podcast explores themes of love, rhetoric, and the nature of the soul through the engaging conversations between Socrates and Phaedrus. Essential for those interested in ancient philosophy and classic literature.

Plato's dialogue, Critias, recalls the story of Atlantis attempting to conquer Athens. In ancient times, the Earth was divide by the gods - and gods tended the humans in their allotment as shepherds. Atlantis, allotted to Poseidon, becomes corrupt over time, and Zeus must take matters into his own hands.

Socrates questions Ion, an actor who just won a major prize, about his ability to interpret the epic poetry of Homer. How does an actor, a poet, or any other artist create? Is it by knowing? Is it by inspiration? As the dialogue proceeds, the nature of human creativity emerges as a mysterious process and an unsolved puzzle.

Socrates is in prison, sentenced to die when the sun sets. In this final conversation, he asks what will become of him once he drinks the poison prescribed for his execution. Socrates and his friends examine several arguments designed to prove that the soul is immortal. This quest leads him to the broader topic of the nature of mind and its connection not only to human existence but also to the cosmos itself. What could be a better way to pass the time between now and the sunset? Plato lived in Athens, Greece.

"Phaedo", also known to ancient readers as "On the Soul", is one of the best-known dialogues of Plato's middle period, along with the "Republic" and the "Symposium". The "Phaedo", which depicts the death of Socrates, is also Plato's fourth and last dialogue to detail the philosopher's final day. In the dialogue, Socrates discusses the nature of the afterlife on his last day before being executed by drinking hemlock.

Welcome to Selling Plato, hosted by Dr. Jared Oliphint. I talk to all kinds of people who can make philosophy useful for your daily life. Go to www.sellingplato.com, subscribe on our YouTube channel to watch the conversations, and follow us on socials at @sellingplato to learn more. Philosophy has a marketing problem. Let’s solve it.

The Allegory of the Cave appears in Plato’s Republic and compares the effect of education and the lack of it on human nature. It is written as a dialogue between Plato's brother and Socrates, who tells of people that have been chained to the wall of a cave their whole lives. They see shadows projected on the wall from objects passing in front of a fire behind them. Socrates explains that the philosopher is like a prisoner who has escaped the cave and realizes that the shadows on the wall are not the true reality at all.

Plato's dialogue in the Symposium, which has as its topic the subject of love, explores the idea of love as a means of ascent to contemplation of the Divine. For Plato, generally, to love other human beings is to direct one's mind to love of Divinity. One proceeds from recognition of another's beauty to appreciation of Beauty as it exists apart from any individual, to consideration of Divinity, the source of Beauty, to love of Divinity.

The "Republic" poses questions that endure: What is justice? What form of community fosters the best possible life for human beings? What is the nature and destiny of the soul? What form of education provides the best leaders for a good republic? What are the various forms of poetry and the other arts, which ones should be fostered, and which ones should be discouraged? How does knowing differ from believing? Several characters in the dialogue present a variety of tempting answers to those questions. Cephalus, Polemarchus, Thrasymachus, and Glaucon all offer definitions of justice.

Plato’s dialogues frequently cover several topics and show their connection to each other. The "Phaedrus" is a model of that skill because of its seamless progression from examples of speeches about the nature of love to mythical visions of human nature and destiny to the essence of beauty and, finally, to a penetrating discussion of speaking and writing. It ends with an examination of the love of wisdom as a dialectical activity in the human mind.

Alfred North Whitehead once noted: "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." Plato is indeed considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, along with his teacher, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle. But his writings are often light, fresh and funny; it was Plato who invented the dialogue in philosophy, which makes a point very easy to follow and the occasion of various scenic arrangements.

"Behold! Human beings living in an underground den. Like ourselves, they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave." With that statement, Plato - one of the greatest thinkers in the history of mankind - introduces one of his of most important philosophical constructs: the relationship between truth and the image of truth.

The Allegory of the Cave, or Plato's Cave, was presented by the Greek philosopher Plato to compare "[T]he effect of education and the lack of it on our nature". It is written as a dialogue between Plato's brother Glaucon and his mentor, Socrates, narrated by the latter.

Pupil of the great Plato, teacher of Alexander the Great, Aristotle is a massively influential figure in Western philosophy. Cicero described his literary style as "a river of gold". Modern ethics are based on his ideas about virtue; his writings literally encompassed all the scientific knowledge of the time and beyond, so much that many of his findings were still considered cutting-edge many century afterwards. Aristotle also shaped modern logic, and put his mark on all subsequent philosophy and theology.

One of the most notorious pirates during the Qing dynasty was born a woman in the wrong century. Mógū's life had a rough start. Born in a poverty stricken fishing village, she was discarded like yesterday’s trash and left in a depository at a Buddhist temple when she was a small girl. Nuns raised her until she reached puberty. Like many of the unwanted daughters of Guangzhou, Mógū became a prostitute on a flower boat.

The dramatic nature of Plato’s dialogues is delightfully evident in the "Symposium." The marriage between character and thought bursts forth as the guests gather at Agathon's house to celebrate the success of his first tragedy. With wit and insight, they each present their ideas about love - from Erixymachus’s scientific naturalism to Aristophanes' comic fantasy. The unexpected arrival of Alcibiades breaks the spell cast by Diotima’s ethereal climb up the staircase of love to beauty itself.