Philosophy and Classics

By: The Plato's Academy Centre
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  • Summary

  • Join us as we explore the world of Greek classics and philosophy, and their relevance to modern life. Episodes published bi-weekly, featuring interviews with renowned authors and academics in the fields of philosophy and classics. Show hosted by Plato's Academy Centre, a nonprofit organization based in Athens, Greece.

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Episodes
  • Spencer Klavan: Civic Friendship & Politics as an Act of Love

    Spencer Klavan: Civic Friendship & Politics as an Act of Love
    Sep 20 2023

    Spencer Klavan is the author of How to Save the West: Ancient Wisdom for 5 Modern Crises and assistant editor of The Claremont Review of Books and The American Mind at the Claremont Institute. With a PhD in Classics, Klavan's literary expertise is aided by his knowledge of many languages, including Ancient Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. As a scholar who enjoys exploring how great works of literature provide valuable insights into today's world, Klavan hosts Young Heretics every Tuesday.

    Highlights

    * Rational discourse is a team sport, a shared pursuit for the wisdom we both seek about the thing and the effort we make at getting it

    * Seeking excellence, moral virtue, and flourishing is the first step, the atomic building block, for living well together—seeking mutual good in the form of community and relationships

    * Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 9.8

    * Fundamentally, when we form political community, we do so because we collectively agree that there is such a thing as justice

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    22 mins
  • Ward Farnsworth: The Socratic Method

    Ward Farnsworth: The Socratic Method
    Sep 14 2023

    Ward Farnsworth is Dean and John Jeffers Research Chair at the University of Texas School of Law. He formerly was Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at the Boston University Law School. He’s the author of The Socratic Method and The Practicing Stoic.

    Highlights

    * The Socratic method as an orientation of mind, is different from the orientation of mind that we use by default and therefore challenging. It's a humbler, more inquisitive frame of mind, a path toward intelligence.

    * “A life, a good life is a life with pleasure.”

    Socrates would ask, “What if a life had a lot of pleasure in it, but it was only obtained by doing horrible things to other people? Would you consider that a good life?”

    “Well, no, of course not.”

    “Maybe revise what you said.”

    * Socrates always finds or suggests contradictions between different things the person believes. This sounds modest and unassuming, this little process, but it has many uses, many payoffs.

    * You're really just asking questions about the premises. The major premise behind what people think is in the foreground. And most people are much clearer on what they think in the foreground than they are in the deep reasons for it.



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    28 mins
  • Double Ignorance and Socratic Irony

    Double Ignorance and Socratic Irony
    Aug 23 2023
    This episode is the final part of the Plato’s Academy Centre course on the Socratic Method. In this lesson, we will be learning about the positive philosophy of Socrates and his use of irony. If you've enjoyed it, please check out these simple ways you can support the Plato's Academy Centre.Socrates' fellow Athenians were frustrated and fascinated by him in equal measures. Right down to the present day, students of philosophy have shared a similar experience when reading Plato's dialogues. Socrates was a complex character. We'll conclude by discussing one of the enduring puzzles about him: his notorious profession of ignorance, which scholars call "Socratic irony".Thank you for reading Plato's Academy Centre Newsletter. This post is public so feel free to share it.Did Socrates Have Two Philosophies?Socrates was well-known for claiming that he knew nothing, or at least nothing of much importance about the most important things in life.He used to say that [...] he knew nothing except just the fact of his ignorance. – Diogenes LaertiusThis aspect of his philosophy is clearly methodological – it helped Socrates to engage in his question and answer approach more freely. On the other hand, it doesn't seem entirely sincere, or entirely true, for him to say he knows nothing about such matters as wisdom and virtue.Sometimes he merely hints at these beliefs but at other times he states them quite clearly.Socrates often seems to have an agenda and to be working toward certain conclusions, which are often quite simple but paradoxical in nature. Sometimes he merely hints at these beliefs but at other times he states them quite clearly. For example:For I go around doing nothing but persuading both young and old among you not to care for your body or your wealth in preference to or as strongly as for the best possible state of your soul, as I say to you: “Wealth does not bring about excellence, but excellence makes wealth and everything else good for men, both individually and collectively.” – Socrates in Plato's Apology, 30bThe Stoics focused on Socrates' positive doctrines about virtue ethics, viewing him as a predecessor of their own school of philosophy in this regard. By contrast, the ancient Greek philosophers known as Skeptics developed a system inspired by Socrates' methodological doubt. Although the Stoics and Skeptics were both influenced by him they chose to focus on different aspects of Socrates' teachings.Socratic IronyFor the purposes of this short course, we'll focus on Socrates' claim to lack wisdom because it's characteristic of his question and answer style of reasoning. The name "Sophist", Sophistes in Greek, means "expert" or one who claims to possess wisdom. The Sophists claimed to be wise and virtuous, and they charged high fees for teaching wisdom and virtue to others. In contrast, Socrates refused to accept fees, casting himself more in the role of student than teacher.I share the poverty of my fellow countrymen in this respect, and confess to my shame that I have no knowledge about virtue at all. – Socrates in Plato's Meno, 71bThrough his repeated disavowal of any special knowledge, Socrates is able to focus on asking questions. In a sense, that helps him to keep an open mind, as we would say today.Plato says that ignorance may be divided into two sorts: "simple ignorance" and "double ignorance". Simple ignorance is less serious. Double ignorance "is accompanied by a conceit of wisdom; and he who is under the influence of the latter fancies that he knows all about matters of which he knows nothing" (Laws, 863cd). Socrates viewed his method as a cure for double ignorance.The Socratic Method undermines the intellectual conceit, or double ignorance, of the person being questioned by exposing contradictions in their thinking. At the same time, though, the questioner is modelling awareness of his own ignorance. It's as though the questioner is demonstrating the benefit of having subjected himself to the Socratic Method – he or she now enjoys a kind of intellectual freedom.Now you've completed the lessons, why not take our quiz on Facebook about the Socratic Method? If you think your friends would appreciate this course please share the link them.Thank you for reading Plato's Academy Centre Newsletter. This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Plato's Academy Centre Newsletter at platosacademycentre.substack.com/subscribe
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    5 mins

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