Plato, 1990
by: Roger Weir
Home » Presentations »

Plato
13 of 13 presentations availableThursdays, Jan 4, 1990 to Mar 29, 1990
This series is a basic introduction to a major root source of the entire Western Philosophic Tradition. This is a rare opportunity to survey an essential heritage. We will follow the translations in the Collected Dialogues of Plato, Bollingen Series LXXI, Princeton University Press.
Course Syllabus and Notes
- Apology @ Jan 04
The traditional beginning of Platonic philosophy. The reported statements made by Socrates during the trial at which he was condemned to death by the state.audio part 1
audio part 2
- Phaedo @ Jan 11
The Dialogue concerned with life after death during Socrates final hours of life in prison.audio part 1
audio part 2
- Gorgias @ Jan 18
Socrates dialogue with the famous teacher of Rhetoric who champions Power as the greatest good for man leading to happiness.audio part 1
audio part 2
- Meno @ Jan 25
Can goodness or essential virtue be taught on the basis of remembrance from past lives? What teacher could do this? Socrates says: "Such a man would be a solid reality among shadows."audio part 1
audio part 2
- Protagoras @ Feb 01
Socrates questions the greatest Sophist of the day about what it is exactly that he teaches. One of Plato's most enduring portraits of men juggling the roots of ethics and social power. Is "Man the Measure of all things?"audio part 1
audio part 2
- Phaedrus @ Feb 08
The great conversation about love as the beginning of the understanding that we should seek "The Beyond" and about the nature and function of language in this seeking.audio part 1
audio part 2
- Symposium @ Feb 15
"The most brilliant of all Plato's achievements as dramatic artist.'' A.E. Taylor.audio part 1
audio part 2
- Republic @ Feb 22
In this greatest dialogue of the entire work Plato uses logic and myth to disclose the philosophic structure of Plato's Republic ''By what rules shall man live?''audio part 1
audio part 2
- Theaetetus @ Mar 01
What is Knowledge? Pythagorean in tone this Socratic dialogue finally characterizes the free man who "always has time at his disposal to converse in peace at his leisure."audio part 1
audio part 2
- Parmenides @ Mar 08
The most puzzling of all Plato's works. No consensus yet exists on the exact meaning of this mysterious excursion into truth and its way.audio part 1
audio part 2
- Sophist @ Mar 15
Plato's important clearing up of fundamental existential quandaries frequently enmeshed in unclear language. The first part of a two part dialogue.audio part 1
audio part 2
- Statesman @ Mar 22
Part two of the Sophist. Statesman tandem leading to "a picture drawn to perfection of the true king and statesman."audio part 1
audio part 2
- Timaeus @ Mar 29
Plato's cosmology. Perhaps the most profound single influence in Western Philosophy.audio part 1
audio part 2