The Problem of the Debate An unquestionable premise of democracy: public decisions are affected by public opinion. Daily observation of the manifestation of public debate may, however,…
Plato’s Symposium is one of the most iconic works of literature in the Western tradition. While The Republic may be more famous, Symposium is the most graphic,…
The common reading of the Crito asserts that the dialogue examines the nature of just and unjust laws with contingent concerns for how a person should respond…
The idea seems to be that even someone who has discipline, works hard, and is very active, will nonetheless still be unhappy if their own character is…
Plato gives an account in the ninth book of the Republic of how a tyrannical soul is formed. Socrates pauses and notes that, in order to proceed…
Given the fantastic premise of this myth, we are able to construct a thought experiment to test out the virtue of the two types of human beings:…
What did Plato actually teach in the Republic about the so-called “noble lie?” For convenience, I shall refer to it by designating it as “The Plato Doctrine.”…
When I first discovered Plato, I was delighted to learn that philosophy could be exciting, rather than boring. I learned that Plato wrote eloquently in praise of…
Plato’s Ion contains an unforgettable image describing artistic experience. In conversation with a rhapsode named Ion, Socrates likens the activity of poets to the operation of a…
Analytic philosophy is by the far the dominant tradition in the English-speaking world and many countries in Europe at this point, with a handful of “continental” schools,…
The invitation extended to me by Professor Alfonso Flórez and the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana marks the highpoint of my career. For a secondary school teacher who has…
There is no doubt that Nietzsche’s relationship to Plato is a complicated one. In my book on Nietzsche, I tried to show that this complexity derives from…
Last year in Buenos Aires, Livio Rosetti opened the inaugural meeting of the International Society of Socratic Studies with a paper called “Né filosofo né sofista.” Perhaps…
Walking toward us from the center of Raphael’s School of Athens are the two giants of Ancient Philosophy: Plato and Aristotle. By depicting Plato as an old…
As we saw at the end of part one of this essay Voegelin’s anti-foundationalism is obviously something of a fragile and quixotic venture. Steven McGuire is not…
