Plato Project #7: Hippias Minor

[Up Next: Ion] Who's the greater hero - Achilles or Odysseus? There is a timelessness to that question, since the two well-known Homeric heroes - the one of the Iliad and the of ther of the Odyssey - seem to represent two diametrically opposed ways of being a hero. Achilles is a swift-footed and strong warrior; Odysseus is … Continue reading Plato Project #7: Hippias Minor →

Plato Project #6: Hippias Major

[Up Next: Hippias Minor] Hippias Major considers the question of what is beautiful, though really only reached conclusions about what it is not. It begins with Hippias (I'm guessing he's a sophist) boastfully explaining that he gives the best and most beautiful speeches, because he makes the most money of anyone who gives them. There's a … Continue reading Plato Project #6: Hippias Major →

Inherent Vice? Thomas Pynchon?

I recently saw Inherent Vice - PT Anderson's screen adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's novel of the same name. For the first time in a long time, I found myself sitting in a theater fundamentally confused about both what was going on (who was connected to whom, how and why) and also what, if any, the broader meaning … Continue reading Inherent Vice? Thomas Pynchon? →

Plato Project #5: First Alcibiades

[Up next: Greater Hippias] "Alcibiades" is a byword for a certain kind of decadent and ostentatious public figure, one who is attractive, ambitious, courts scandal, and is self-involved. It was with this archetype that I was most acquainted. I think in our high school Great Books class we read something called "Alcibiades" but I don't think … Continue reading Plato Project #5: First Alcibiades →

We Are All Anti-Vaccinators

(at least if we use Uber, Amazon, Turbotax, cars, or discount supermarkets) As usual, the Onion nails it: the anti-vaccination crowd misuses the language of individual rights and thereby jeopardizes the social well-being of others. But also as usual, the Onion’s joke cuts more deeply - to everyone who uses Uber, Amazon, claims substantial tax … Continue reading We Are All Anti-Vaccinators →

Plato Project #4: Euthyphro

[Up next: "First Alcibiades"] "Euthyphro" is the third and final full Socratic text I've spent some time teaching (I've also excerpted the analogy of the cave, and the Meno sequence where Socrates teaches a slave-boy geometry, which we'll come to in good time). A quick perusal of the internet shows that the substance of the argument in … Continue reading Plato Project #4: Euthyphro →

Lost and Found

Lost and Found Here's an interesting story on the use of new technology to recover new text from the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum. The Villa appears to have been the home of a philosopher in the Southern Italian city on the Bay of Naples. On August 24, 79 AD, the dormant Mt. Vesuvius … Continue reading Lost and Found →

Plato Project #3: Crito

[Up Next - Euthyphro] As a senior in high school, in our "Great Books" class, and then again as a freshman in college, in a course called "The Moral Basis of Politics," we read "Crito." Every year with my junior AP Language and Composition students, I also read this text. I believe it's one of … Continue reading Plato Project #3: Crito →

Plato Project #2: Charmides

[Next Week - Crito] I'd never read "Charmides" before, so I'll just share my first impressions. The first and most striking feature of this dialogue, for me anyway, is that it's narrated in the first person, by Socrates himself. I really haven't read very many of the off-the-beaten-path dialogues, so maybe this is a common … Continue reading Plato Project #2: Charmides →

Plato Project #1: The Apology of Socrates

"How you, O Athenians, have been affected by my accusers, I cannot tell; but I know that they almost made me forget who I was-so persuasively did they speak; and yet they have hardly uttered a word of truth." So begins Socrates' final defense to the Athenian jury (Jowett's translation). These are words I read … Continue reading Plato Project #1: The Apology of Socrates →