Since its inception, psychoanalysis has been in robust conversation with Greek mythology and philosophy. Modern psychoanalytic theories developed in sustained dialogue with mythology and philosophy, mediated in no small part by Sigmund Freud’s reading of the Greeks. While more contemporary psychoanalysis has largely amended this Freudian dependence on the interpretation of Continue Reading …
Ep. 376: Plato’s “Laws” (Part Two)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Continuing from part one on selections from this late Platonic dialogue. Starting in Book 4, Plato's characters are discussing how to create a new state ("Magnesia") from scratch. What sorts of laws should it have? Sponsor: Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take Continue Reading …
Ep. 376: Plato’s “Laws” (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Everybody reads Plato's Republic, but is that dialogue really a political philosophy text (like the ideal type of government proposed there is what he really thinks we should and perhaps can have), or is he just using the political to illustrate something about the personal virtue of justice, Continue Reading …
Ep. 376: Plato’s “Laws” (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one on selections from this late Platonic dialogue. Starting in Book 4, Plato's characters are discussing how to create a new state ("Magnesia") from scratch. What sorts of laws should it have? We discuss the marriage laws and whether Plato's presentation of this topic actually fulfills his requirement that laws have a rationally argued prelude for the Continue Reading …
Ep. 376: Plato’s “Laws” (Part One for Supporters)
Everybody reads Plato's Republic, but is that dialogue really a political philosophy text (like the ideal type of government proposed there is what he really thinks we should and perhaps can have), or is he just using the political to illustrate something about the personal virtue of justice, as Socrates explicitly says in the dialogue? Well, in this later (and longer, and Continue Reading …
Closereads: Forms in Plato’s “Republic” (Part One)
Sign up for Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy to get additional parts of this reading, as well as our previous and future installments of this new podcast. Toward the end of Book VI and into Book VII of the Republic, Plato gives a series of metaphors for the role "the good itself" plays in our knowledge and values. We read here starting at line 507b of the Continue Reading …
Ep. 324: Plato’s “Cratylus” on Language (Part Two)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this ad-free, plus a supporter-exclusive part three. Listen to a preview.. Continuing from part one on Plato's mid-period dialogue about language. Is attaching a word to a thing, i.e. naming it, like other activities such as carpentry or sewing that can go wrong? Can we put the "form" of a thing into letters and syllabus of its name? Continue Reading …
Ep. 324: Plato’s “Cratylus” on Language (Part Three/Closereads)
Mark and Wes do a Closeread on the latter part of the dialogue, where Socrates argues to Cratylus that even if names (words) were devised to somehow depict the things they stand for, that wouldn't guarantee that they ACCURATELY describe the world. You can't look at the definitions of words to learn about the world; you have to actually investigate the world directly. Follow Continue Reading …
Ep. 324: Plato’s “Cratylus” on Language (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content including a supporter-exclusive part three to this discussion coming out next week. On Plato's mid-period dialogue from around 388 BCE. How do words relate to the things they represent? Featuring Mark, Wes, and Dylan. We're all familiar with the feeling when we see someone really hot but Continue Reading …
Ep. 324: Plato’s “Cratylus” on Language (Part One for Supporters)
On Plato's mid-period dialogue from around 388 BCE. How do words relate to the things they represent? Featuring Mark, Wes, and Dylan. We're all familiar with the feeling when we see someone really hot but with a very dweeby name that something seems to have gone wrong. We also know Native names like "Running Eagle" that may or may not seem to really fit the person with that Continue Reading …
PREVIEW-Ep. 266: Jonathan Lear’s Plato: Psyche and Society (Part Two)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode in its entirety. Citizens can get the second part here. Continuing from part one on essays from Lear's Open Minded: Working Out the Logic of the Soul (1988). This preview comes from the middle of the recording, featuring the beginning of our debate about the relation between the three parts of the soul: Wes argues that this Continue Reading …
Ep. 266: Jonathan Lear’s Plato: Psyche and Society (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. On essays from Lear's Open Minded: Working Out the Logic of the Soul (1988), featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. How does Plato's philosophy hold together, and is it still something we can make use of in the modern age? Our recent explorations of Plato's Timaeus and Phaedo showed us how humanity is supposed to Continue Reading …
Ep. 266: Jonathan Lear’s Plato: Psyche and Society (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one on essays from Lear's Open Minded: Working Out the Logic of the Soul (1988). We start off with more about the relation between comedy and tragedy and how these might relate to Plato's stories. We then provide more detail on chapter 10: "Inside and Outside the Republic," including Bernard Williams' objections to Plato and Lear's Continue Reading …
Ep. 266: Jonathan Lear’s Plato: Psyche and Society (Part One for Supporters)
On essays from Lear's Open Minded: Working Out the Logic of the Soul (1988), featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. How does Plato's philosophy hold together, and is it still something we can make use of in the modern age? Our recent explorations of Plato's Timaeus and Phaedo showed us how humanity is supposed to fit into the cosmos, but the details seemed hopelessly archaic: Continue Reading …
PREVIEW-Ep. 265: Plato’s “Phaedo”: Philosophy as Training for Death (Part Two)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode in its entirety. Citizens can get the second part here. Continuing on the Phaedo, getting into the details of Plato's cosmology as described by the dialogue, including laying out his various proofs for the immortality of the soul. In this preview we start out principle of physics that Socrates puts forward that things always emerge Continue Reading …
Ep. 265: Plato’s “Phaedo”: Philosophy as Training for Death (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. On Plato's middle dialogue depicting the death of Socrates from around 390 BCE, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. Should we fear death? Plato's dialogue shows Socrates conversing with his followers immediately before his execution about the philosophical life and the immortality of the soul. Philosophy as Continue Reading …
Ep. 265: Plato’s “Phaedo”: Philosophy as Training for Death (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one on Plato's dialogue depicting the death of Socrates from around 390 BCE. We get more into the details of Plato's cosmology as described by the dialogue, including laying out his various proofs for the immortality of the soul. First, Socrates puts forth the principle of physics that things always emerge from their opposites. For instance, where do Continue Reading …
Ep. 265: Plato’s “Phaedo”: Philosophy as Training for Death (Part One for Supporters)
On Plato's middle dialogue depicting the death of Socrates from around 390 BCE, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. Should we fear death? Plato's dialogue shows Socrates conversing with his followers immediately before his execution about the philosophical life and the immortality of the soul. Philosophy as Socrates preaches it is preparation for death: It is a Continue Reading …
Ep. 264: Plato’s “Timaeus” on Cosmology (Part One for Supporters)
On the later Platonic dialogue from around 360 BCE, with Mark, Wes, and Dylan. How is nature put together? Plato, speaking this time through the fictional character instead of Socrates (who is present, but only Timaeus talks after the first part of the dialogue), paints a picture of the creation of the cosmos and our place in it. The overall principle is the same as it was Continue Reading …
Combat & Classics Ep. 47 Xenophon’s “The Education of Cyrus” Book VI with Shilo Brooks
Brian, Shilo and Jeff get together to talk more about the difference between sexual and political love, or eros, and about the connection between eros and gratitude. We end on another cliffhanger, as Cyrus' army, complete with siege engines, is about to attack the Assyrian host. And Jeff admits to a crackpot theory about the connection between love, chariots, and... Continue Reading …