WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.200 --> 00:00:15.519 You see somethings are going to happen. What's going to happen? What? 2 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:26.600 There are names in history that don't just belong to 3 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:30.800 the past. They feel like forces, not because they are perfect, 4 00:00:31.320 --> 00:00:34.000 not because they were always right, but because once they're 5 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:36.759 ideas into the world, the world can never quite go 6 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:39.640 back to what it was before. Plato is one of 7 00:00:39.640 --> 00:00:45.000 those names. When people talk about Western thought, philosophy, metaphysics, 8 00:00:45.159 --> 00:00:47.880 the soul, the nature of reality, or even the way 9 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:51.320 our society imagines truth and illusion, they are often walking 10 00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:54.880 through the rooms Plato helped build. Whether we realize it 11 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:58.200 or not, we still live inside questions he made impossible 12 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:02.399 to ignore. What is real? What is merely appearance? What 13 00:01:02.600 --> 00:01:06.120 makes a life worth living? What is justice? What is 14 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:09.280 the soul? And above all, how does a human being 15 00:01:09.319 --> 00:01:13.239 climb out of ignorance and into something like clarity. That's 16 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:16.120 why this isn't just going to be one episode. This 17 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:19.400 is a multi part series because Plato isn't a topic 18 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:23.120 you cover. Plato is a labyrinth, and once you step inside, 19 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:26.560 you start seeing echoes of his thought everywhere in politics 20 00:01:26.599 --> 00:01:30.680 and religion, in mysticism and psychology, and education, and empire 21 00:01:30.840 --> 00:01:33.560 and art, in the way modern people argue online about 22 00:01:33.560 --> 00:01:36.319 truth as if they're changed in a cave, watching shadows 23 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:40.959 and calling it reality. Plato isn't just a philosopher. He's 24 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:46.120 a map of how civilizations dream, rationalize, justify, and mythologize 25 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:50.239 their world. So here's how we're doing it. In Part one, 26 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:53.560 we're going to start where every real understanding begins with 27 00:01:53.640 --> 00:01:57.239 the human being, not Plato the statue, not Plato the textbook. 28 00:01:57.480 --> 00:02:00.799 Plato the man born into the chaos of athnices, shaped 29 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:03.760 by war and political collapse, and haunted by one event 30 00:02:03.799 --> 00:02:06.760 that marks his history like a scar, the trial and 31 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:10.879 execution of Socrates. We'll explore the world that produced him, 32 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:14.039 the culture of the police, the spiritual mythic atmosphere of 33 00:02:14.039 --> 00:02:17.800 Greek religion, the intellectual background of sophis and statesmen, and 34 00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:20.840 the personal shock that turned a young aristocrat into a 35 00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:24.599 lifelong architect of ideas. The first part is about the 36 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:28.919 origin story, because you can't understand Plato's obsession with justice, truth, 37 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:31.400 and the soul unless you understand the world that convinced 38 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:34.719 him that society was sick and that most people mistake 39 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:38.479 confidence for wisdom. Then in Part two we descend into 40 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:42.520 Plato's major works his dialogues. Because Plato doesn't lecture you, 41 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:46.680 he drops you in conversations. He stages philosophy like a drama. 42 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:49.639 And inside those dialogues are some of the most influential 43 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:54.199 concepts ever written. The theory of forms, the tripartite soul, 44 00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:57.280 the education of the philosopher, the nature of love as 45 00:02:57.319 --> 00:03:00.599 spiritual assent, and yes, the allegory of the Cave, one 46 00:03:00.599 --> 00:03:03.759 of the most haunting metaphors ever produced for the human condition. 47 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:07.439 Part two is where we go deeper. We're not just 48 00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:10.599 summarizing what he said. We're going to unpack what he meant, 49 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:14.000 why it mattered, how the ideas connect, and why they 50 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:18.479 still shape the way modern people talk about knowledge, reality, morality, 51 00:03:18.680 --> 00:03:23.639 and even enlightenment. And finally, in Part three, me and 52 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:26.599 the crew are coming on together for a full discussion episode, 53 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:30.120 the Roundtable. Because Plato is the kind of thinker you 54 00:03:30.159 --> 00:03:33.280 don't just read, You argue with him, You test him, 55 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:36.199 You bring his ideas into the modern world and see 56 00:03:36.240 --> 00:03:40.039 what survives the collision. That's where we'll take everything from 57 00:03:40.039 --> 00:03:42.120 parts one in part two and put it on the table. 58 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:48.400 The Cave, the forms, the philosopher, King, the soul, love, myth, reason, power, 59 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:50.960 and whether Plato was building a ladder to truth or 60 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:54.919 designing a beautiful prison with a perfect blueprint. And here's 61 00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:57.039 the real reason we're doing it as a crew discussion. 62 00:03:57.639 --> 00:04:00.840 Plato's dialogues were never meant to be passive. They're meant 63 00:04:00.840 --> 00:04:04.599 to be alive. They're meant to provoke. Plato wrote conversations 64 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:07.520 so that the reader becomes the missing speaker, the one 65 00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:11.639 who has to decide what's true, what's dangerous, and what's 66 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:17.319 still worth keeping. So welcome to the series. This is Plato, 67 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:19.720 not as a dry chapter in a textbook, but as 68 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:22.759 a living force that still shadows a modern mind, a 69 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:25.959 philosopher whose questions can feel like a lantern or an 70 00:04:25.959 --> 00:04:29.000 interrogation light. A man who asked what reality is and 71 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:31.560 then dared to suggest that most of us have never 72 00:04:31.639 --> 00:04:35.199 actually seen it. And if Plato is right, if the 73 00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:38.199 world is a cave, then the only question that matters 74 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:44.360 is who's brave enough to walk out. Plato arrived in 75 00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:46.759 the world just as classical Athens was passing from the 76 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:49.959 brilliance of Periclean grandeur into the long shadow of the 77 00:04:49.959 --> 00:04:54.560 Peloponnesian War, Born into an old aristocratic family. The boy 78 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:57.920 grew up amid political upheaval, public debate, and a culture 79 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:03.240 still flush with dramatic poetry an astonishing aristocratic innovation. Point 80 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:06.079 into an old aristocratic family, the boy grew up amid 81 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:09.759 political upheaval, public debate, and a culture still flushed with 82 00:05:09.839 --> 00:05:13.800 dramatic poetry and astonishing artistic innovation. This was the city 83 00:05:13.800 --> 00:05:17.800 of Sophocles and Aristophanes, of the Sophists who sold wisdom 84 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:20.639 for a fee, and of Socrates, who gave it away 85 00:05:20.759 --> 00:05:25.279 at the price of relentless self examination. In that charge atmosphere, 86 00:05:25.720 --> 00:05:29.720 Plato first learned that ideas could rouse armies, topple governments, 87 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:33.120 and remake individual lives. As a young man, he encounted 88 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:36.759 Socrates and quickly exchanged his family's traditional path of statemanship 89 00:05:37.079 --> 00:05:41.000 for the more radical vocation of philosophy. The eight years 90 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:43.600 he spent at his teacher's side and the anguish of 91 00:05:43.639 --> 00:05:46.800 watching that teacher condemned and executed by a democratic jury 92 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:50.040 etched into him the conviction that only genuine knowledge could 93 00:05:50.120 --> 00:05:53.800 ground a just life or a just state. Determined to 94 00:05:53.800 --> 00:05:56.879 discover what such knowledge might be, Plato leth Athens on 95 00:05:56.920 --> 00:05:59.360 a decade long quest that took him to mcgara, southern 96 00:05:59.399 --> 00:06:02.879 Italy and in Sicily, where he studied mathematics with Pythagoreans, 97 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:07.839 debated tyrants, and very nearly died in slavery. Returning home, 98 00:06:08.120 --> 00:06:10.480 he founded his own school and a sacred olive grove 99 00:06:10.519 --> 00:06:16.240 outside the city walls. The academy a community devoted to geometry, astronomy, music, 100 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:20.920 and above all, dialectic. From that sanctuary flowed the dialogues, 101 00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:25.000 dramatic conversations in which the historical figures of Socrates becomes 102 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:28.360 a mouthpiece for some of the boldest ideas ever proposed. 103 00:06:28.759 --> 00:06:32.839 From that sanctuary flowed the dialogues, dramatic conversations in which 104 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:36.160 the historical figure of Socrates becomes a mouthpiece for some 105 00:06:36.199 --> 00:06:40.000 of the boldest ideas ever proposed. The theory of forms, 106 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:45.360 the immortality of the soul, the tripartite psyche, the philosopher king, 107 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:49.959 and the demand that reason governed both city and self. Together, 108 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:53.199 those writings formed the first great library of Western philosophy, 109 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:58.879 a unified but never dogmatic exploration of ethics, epistemology, mathematics, art, 110 00:06:59.079 --> 00:07:02.000 and love. They begin with the apologia of a man 111 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:05.600 unjustly killed and they culminate in a sprawling blueprint for 112 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:09.800 a society roled by wisdom that arc from courtroom tragedy 113 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:13.120 to utopian imagination. Frames the life of a thinker who 114 00:07:13.240 --> 00:07:16.439 set the horizon for every serious conversation about truth that 115 00:07:16.519 --> 00:07:20.879 has followed. Wherever a man has taken a position, he 116 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:24.040 must remain and face the danger without a thought for 117 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:29.079 death or anything else. Plato, who was born between four 118 00:07:29.160 --> 00:07:31.439 twenty eight and four to twenty seven BCE and died 119 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:34.399 between three forty eight and three forty seven BCE, was 120 00:07:34.439 --> 00:07:38.560 an ancient Athenian philosopher whose influence on Western thought is immeasurable. 121 00:07:39.560 --> 00:07:42.279 A student of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle, he 122 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:47.120 authored dozens of philosophical dialogues that have shaped ethics, metaphysics, politics, 123 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:50.800 and education for over to millennia. He also founded the 124 00:07:50.839 --> 00:07:53.920 Academy in Athens, often regarded as the first university in 125 00:07:53.959 --> 00:07:58.199 the Western world. Through his writings, Plato introduced in during 126 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:01.800 ideas such as the theory of the immortality of the 127 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:05.120 soul and the ideal of a philosopher king that became 128 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:09.519 cornerstones of Western philosophy. This episode presents Plato's life. It 129 00:08:09.560 --> 00:08:13.120 explores the historical context of his times, surveys his major 130 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:17.399 works and ideas, and examined his lasting legacy from antiquity 131 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:21.480 through the Medieval and Renaissance periods and beyond. Plato was 132 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:23.560 born in Athens in the closing years of the city's 133 00:08:23.560 --> 00:08:26.759 Golden Age, just as the Peloponnesian War between Athens and 134 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:30.399 Sparta was beginning to ravage the Greek world. Ancient sources 135 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:33.279 vary on his birth year, but it is traditionally given 136 00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:35.639 as four twenty eight or four to twenty seven BCE, 137 00:08:36.440 --> 00:08:39.440 about a year after the death of the great statesman Pericles. 138 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:43.399 He was born into an aristocratic and politically active family. 139 00:08:43.879 --> 00:08:46.840 His father, Ariston of Dame coliis claimed the lineage from 140 00:08:46.840 --> 00:08:49.639 the early kings of Athens, legends tracing back to the 141 00:08:49.639 --> 00:08:54.279 god Poseidon. Plato's mother, Peritione, was related to the famous 142 00:08:54.360 --> 00:08:59.240 lawgiver Salon and came from a distinguished Athenian family. Through 143 00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:02.159 his mother, Plato was also a nephew of Karmedies and 144 00:09:02.200 --> 00:09:05.360 a cousin of Critias. This noble heritage meant Plato grew 145 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:07.919 up in an environment deeply connected to athens social and 146 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:12.279 political elite. Plato's birth name was reportedly Aristocles after his grandfather, 147 00:09:12.360 --> 00:09:14.679 but he was given the nickname Platin, meaning broad, either 148 00:09:14.759 --> 00:09:16.960 due to his broad physique or broad forehead by his 149 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:21.039 wrestling coach. He had two older brothers, Glocon and Adimantus, 150 00:09:21.039 --> 00:09:24.840 and his sister Polton. These brothers famously appeared as characters 151 00:09:24.840 --> 00:09:28.279 in Plato's own dialogue Republic. When Plato was still a boy, 152 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:32.200 his father, Ariston died and his mother remarried her own uncle, Pyra, 153 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:36.480 lamps and associate of Pericles. Through that marriage, Plato gained 154 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:39.919 a half brother, Antiphon. Raised in this world to do household, 155 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:42.559 young Plato would have received the typical education of an 156 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:47.919 Athenian gentleman, instruction and grammar, poetry, music, and gymnastics. There 157 00:09:47.919 --> 00:09:50.639 are reports that in his youth Plato wrote poetry and 158 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:55.000 even staged plays. An anecdote, likely apocryphal, claims that he 159 00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:57.320 had burned his early tragic poems after he fell in 160 00:09:57.320 --> 00:10:01.759 love with philosophy under Socrates. Spell during Plato's childhood was 161 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:04.360 a city at war and in cultural bloom at once. 162 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:07.559 The Peloponnesian War from four point thirty one to four 163 00:10:07.720 --> 00:10:12.879 h four BCE brought hardships plague, military expeditions, and eventual 164 00:10:12.919 --> 00:10:15.840 defeat of Athens by Sparta in four h four BCE, 165 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:19.440 all events that would shape the outlook of Plato's generation. 166 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:24.360 Despite wartime turbulence, Athens remained the vibrant center of learning 167 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:29.200 and art. Sophocles and Euripides were producing tragedies, Aristophanes satirized 168 00:10:29.240 --> 00:10:32.320 society and comedies, and the Sophists were traveling teachers who 169 00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:35.440 sparked intellectual debates about virtue and truth. It was in 170 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:40.000 this milieu that Plato came of age. He who would 171 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:43.399 proceed alright, should begin from the beauties of earth until 172 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:48.480 he grasps that wondrous vision, beauty, absolute, simple, and everlasting. 173 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:53.200 As a young man, Plato became part of the circle 174 00:10:53.240 --> 00:10:56.759 of Socrates, the charismatic philosopher who roamed the Athens challenging 175 00:10:56.759 --> 00:11:01.159 people to examine their lives. Plato likely encountered Socrates in 176 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:03.759 his late teens or early twenties around four h nine 177 00:11:03.799 --> 00:11:08.399 to four h six BCE, and was profoundly impressed. According 178 00:11:08.440 --> 00:11:11.320 to an ancient story, Plato had been preparing to compete 179 00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:15.159 as a playwright, but upon hearing socrates discourse in the marketplace, 180 00:11:15.559 --> 00:11:20.519 he abandoned literature for philosophy, supposedly remarking, come here, Vulcan, 181 00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:24.039 for Plato needs your aid, as he consigned his poems 182 00:11:24.039 --> 00:11:28.120 to the flames. Whether literally true or not, this tale 183 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:33.320 illustrates Socrates's powerful influence on the youth. For about eight years, 184 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:37.039 Plato was a devoted pupil of Socrates, absorbing methods of 185 00:11:37.080 --> 00:11:41.799 relentless questioning now known as the Socratic method. Socrates taught 186 00:11:41.879 --> 00:11:45.679 not by writing treatises, but by engaging in dialogue, questioning 187 00:11:45.720 --> 00:11:50.279 assumptions about piety, justice, courage, and virtue among his fellow citizens. 188 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:55.279 Plato witnessed first hand socrates mission to spur critical self examination. 189 00:11:56.600 --> 00:11:59.759 Socrates's method and moral conviction left an indelible mark on 190 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:03.559 play Pato. He later cast Socrates as the principal speaker 191 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:06.879 in almost all his dialogues, using so crid a conversation 192 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:11.600 as the vehicle for his own ideas. Athens underwent political 193 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:17.080 turmoil during this period. In four h four BCE, Plato's relatives, critias, 194 00:12:17.080 --> 00:12:20.240 and charmities were key figures in the oligarchic Thirty Tyrants, 195 00:12:20.519 --> 00:12:25.080 who sees power with Spartan support. After Athens's defeat, Plato 196 00:12:25.159 --> 00:12:27.960 was reportedly invited to join their regime, but he grew 197 00:12:28.039 --> 00:12:32.440 disillusioned as the oligarchs became oppressive. The tyranny fell in 198 00:12:32.440 --> 00:12:36.000 four oh three BCE and democracy was restored. Soon after 199 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:40.159 the three ninety nine BCE, the Democratic government executed Socrates 200 00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:43.600 on charges of impiety and corrupting the youth. Plato was 201 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:46.440 about twenty eight and was present at the trial. He 202 00:12:46.519 --> 00:12:50.200 later recounted Socrates's apology defense speech in one of his 203 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:54.840 earliest writings. The unjust condemnation of his beloved teacher profoundly 204 00:12:54.840 --> 00:12:59.840 affected Plato. In a letter traditionally attributed to him, Plato 205 00:13:00.039 --> 00:13:03.360 wrote that witnessing Socrates's fate made him wary of entering 206 00:13:03.399 --> 00:13:07.600 public life. Indeed, he turned away from any political career, 207 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:11.320 convinced that neither the oligarchy nor the radical democracy had 208 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:16.080 delivered wise or just leadership. In the Apology Dialogue, Plato 209 00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:20.799 memorializes Socrates's courage and ideals. Socrates at his trial insists 210 00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:24.279 that he will not give up on philosophizing, famously asserting 211 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:28.799 that the unexamined life is not worth living. Plato's account 212 00:13:28.840 --> 00:13:32.559 of Socrates' final days, including the Credo where Socrates refuses 213 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:35.639 to escape prison, upholding his ethical duty to the laws 214 00:13:35.639 --> 00:13:39.600 of Athens and the Fato, which movingly described Socrates discussing 215 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:42.919 the immortality of the soul before calmly drinking the hemlock poison. 216 00:13:43.559 --> 00:13:46.879 Plato kept Socratic thought alive even after his mentor's death. 217 00:13:47.799 --> 00:13:51.919 After socrates execution, Plato left Athens, a common act of 218 00:13:51.960 --> 00:13:55.399 piety for a disciple, warning his master. So ases indicate 219 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:58.399 he first joined other Socratic adherents in Mega, a nearby 220 00:13:58.440 --> 00:14:02.799 city under philosopher Euclid of Megra. In subsequent years three 221 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:06.440 ninety nine to three eighty seven BCE, Plato likely traveled 222 00:14:06.440 --> 00:14:10.960 throughout the Mediterranean world. While details are sparse and sometimes conjectural, 223 00:14:11.559 --> 00:14:14.399 later reports and clues from his letters suggests a period 224 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:20.120 of wide range traveling Egypt. Plato possibly visited Egypt, the 225 00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:23.840 ancient land of wisdom. The geographer Strabo claimed that in 226 00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:27.519 Heliopolis he was shown the house where Plato stayed. In 227 00:14:27.559 --> 00:14:31.080 dialogues like Feedras, Plato refers to Egyptian law the myth 228 00:14:31.159 --> 00:14:33.639 of the invention of writing, and in the Thimis, he 229 00:14:33.720 --> 00:14:37.279 hints at Egyptian priests recounting the story of Atlantis suggesting 230 00:14:37.320 --> 00:14:40.960 at least a fascination with Egypt, whether or not he 231 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:45.399 went there, Egyptian civilization's antiquity may have influences thinking about 232 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:51.279 timeless wisdom and ideal societies. Some accounts have Plato studying 233 00:14:51.279 --> 00:14:55.879 mathematics and syranny with the renowned mathematician Theodorus. Theodorus actually 234 00:14:55.879 --> 00:14:59.840 appears as a character in Plato's later dialogue Theotitis. This 235 00:15:00.039 --> 00:15:03.440 indicates Plato had connections with leading mathematicians of his day, 236 00:15:03.480 --> 00:15:07.720 reinforcing his deep interest in mathematics. Plato certainly traveled to 237 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:11.080 Greek colonies in southern Italy, where he encountered the followers 238 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:16.559 of Pythagoras. Pythagorean philosophy, with its emphasis on number, harmony 239 00:15:16.759 --> 00:15:19.759 and the transmigration to souls, made a lasting imprint on 240 00:15:19.799 --> 00:15:24.600 Plato's thought. Diagenes reports that Plato visited several Pythagoreans in 241 00:15:24.679 --> 00:15:27.799 southern Italy, and his own Seventh Letter mentions a friendship 242 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:32.639 with Architas of Tarentum, a statesman and Pythagorean thinker. Plato's 243 00:15:32.679 --> 00:15:35.960 reverence from mathematics and his notion that abstract forms under 244 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:40.399 lie reality owe much to Pythagorean ideas. In fact, later 245 00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:42.799 tradition held that a sign at the door of Plato's 246 00:15:42.840 --> 00:15:46.399 academy read let no one ignorant of geometry enter here, 247 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:50.840 highlighting the Pythagorean Platonic belief in mathematics as a gateway 248 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:54.799 to higher knowledge. The most momentous journeys, Plato took word 249 00:15:54.879 --> 00:15:57.799 to the island of Sicily, where he became entangled in 250 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:01.440 the politics and the city of Syracuse. Plato first went 251 00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:04.279 to Sicily around three eighty eight BCE, when he was 252 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:09.200 about forty. There he met Dionysus, the autocratic tyrant of Syracuse, and, 253 00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:12.799 more faithfully, Dionysus's brother in law, Dion, a young man 254 00:16:12.840 --> 00:16:16.879 who became Plato's ardinate student. There he met Dionysus, the 255 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:22.080 ortocratic tyrant of Syracuse, and more faithfully, Dionysus's brother in law, Dion, 256 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:25.559 a young man who became Plato's ardent student and friend. 257 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:30.440 Plato's teachings fascinated Dion. It appears Plato harbored the ambitious 258 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:34.000 hope of educating a ruler in philosophy to realize in 259 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:36.960 practice the vision of a philosopher king that he would 260 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:42.080 later describe in his Republic. The Sicilian sojourn, however, ended poorly. 261 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:46.600 Later legends reported by Plutarch and Diogenes, claimed that Pluto 262 00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:49.759 offended the tyrant Dionysus by his frank speech and was 263 00:16:49.799 --> 00:16:54.960 sent into bondage. Allegedly, Dionysus sold Plato into slavery, or 264 00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:57.200 at least had taken him to the slave market of Agina. 265 00:16:57.639 --> 00:17:01.480 Then at war with Athens, Plato was nearly put to 266 00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:04.079 death in captivity at Syrone, but was saved when a 267 00:17:04.119 --> 00:17:07.799 sympathetic Admira and a serious of Syrony purchased his freedom 268 00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:11.559 and sent him home to Athens. While some details are doubtful, 269 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:14.960 it's clear Plato's first Sicilian adventure was a harrowing lesson 270 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:20.039 in the clash between idealism and tyranny. He left Syracuse disappointed, 271 00:17:20.359 --> 00:17:23.920 though having forged a deep bond with dion Plato returned 272 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:27.920 to Athens by three eighty seven BCE. Around this time 273 00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:30.599 he founded the Academy, a school of higher learning that 274 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:34.680 he would direct for the next four decades. The Academy 275 00:17:34.759 --> 00:17:37.279 was situated in a grove of olive trees just outside 276 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:40.920 athens walls, a site sacred to the hero Academus, hence 277 00:17:40.920 --> 00:17:43.960 the name it wasn't a formal university as we think 278 00:17:43.960 --> 00:17:46.799 of today, but a function as a gathering place for inquiry, 279 00:17:46.839 --> 00:17:50.640 where philosophy, science, and mathematics were pursued in a community 280 00:17:50.680 --> 00:17:54.559 of teachers and students. The Academy is often cited as 281 00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:57.640 the first and enduring institution devoted to research and philosophy, 282 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:03.279 the ancestor of later universities. Within its precincts, Plato lectured 283 00:18:03.319 --> 00:18:05.759 and engaged in dialogue with brilliant minds of the era. 284 00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:11.720 Eminent mathematicians like Theotetis, discoverer of geometric truths and Exodus 285 00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:14.880 of Sneidis, and astronomer who developed theories of proportion were 286 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:20.000 associated with the Academy. Perhaps Plato's greatest pupil, Aristotle entered 287 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:22.720 the Academy as a teenager in three sixty seven BCE 288 00:18:23.359 --> 00:18:26.920 and studied under Plato for twenty years. The Academy emphasized 289 00:18:26.920 --> 00:18:32.240 a broad curriculum. Students learned mathematics, geometry and arithmetic, astronomy, 290 00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:37.039 music theory, and dialectical philosophy, reflecting Plato's conviction that rigorous 291 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:39.599 training in science and math prepares the mind for higher 292 00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:44.680 philosophical insight. Plato himself was not a prolific research mathematician, 293 00:18:44.920 --> 00:18:48.519 but he absorbed and integrated the discoveries of others. His 294 00:18:48.680 --> 00:18:52.000 dialogues are prepared with mathematical examples and metaphors, and in 295 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:55.960 Timaeus he even presents a cosmology built on geometry, notably 296 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:58.960 describing the five regulous solids that are now known as 297 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:02.000 the Platonic solids and associating them with fundamental elements of 298 00:19:02.039 --> 00:19:06.759 the universe. Except for two further Sicilian expeditions, Plato remained 299 00:19:06.759 --> 00:19:08.680 based at the academy for the rest of his life, 300 00:19:08.839 --> 00:19:12.519 writing and teaching. The academy thrived and endured long after 301 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:17.440 Plato's death. In fact, Sprucippus, Plato's nephew, succeeded him as 302 00:19:17.480 --> 00:19:22.119 school arc head of the academy, followed by Xenocrats and others, 303 00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:26.559 and the school continued with interruptions until five twenty nine CE, 304 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:30.279 when the Byzantine Emperor Justinian closed the Pagan philosophical schools. 305 00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:33.680 For almost nine hundred years, Plato's academy stood as a 306 00:19:33.720 --> 00:19:36.519 beacon of learned culture in the Greco Roman world, a 307 00:19:36.519 --> 00:19:40.480 testament to the powerful institution invention of communal scholarly pursued 308 00:19:40.680 --> 00:19:44.400 that Plato had set in motion. The soul is most 309 00:19:44.519 --> 00:19:50.839 like that which is divine, immortal, intelligible, uniform, indissoluble, ever 310 00:19:50.920 --> 00:19:57.640 the same as itself. Plato's philosophical convictions about politics that 311 00:19:57.759 --> 00:20:01.640 rulers should be philosophersally tested in his interactions with the 312 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:05.440 Rules of Syracuse. After the death of Dionysus in three 313 00:20:05.480 --> 00:20:09.039 sixty seven BCE, Dion urged Plato to make his second 314 00:20:09.079 --> 00:20:12.359 journey to Syracuse. The idea was to educate the new 315 00:20:12.440 --> 00:20:16.359 young tyrant, Dionysus the Second, in philosophy, hopefully turning him 316 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:19.119 into the just rule of that Syracuse and perhaps the 317 00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:22.319 world needed. Though Plato was now in his sixties and 318 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:25.039 an initially skeptical that a true philosopher king could be 319 00:20:25.079 --> 00:20:28.240 made out of Dionysus the Second, he eventually agreed to 320 00:20:28.279 --> 00:20:32.119 attempt this bold experiment. In three sixty seven or three 321 00:20:32.200 --> 00:20:36.319 sixty six BCE, he traveled again to Sicily. Unfortunately, the 322 00:20:36.359 --> 00:20:41.640 project unraveled. Dionysus the Second was intellectually fickle and politically insecure. 323 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:44.960 Within a short time, the tyrant grew suspicious of Dion, 324 00:20:45.319 --> 00:20:49.160 his uncle and Plato's ally. Dion was exiled, accused of treason, 325 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:53.079 and Plato himself was effectively detained, treated outwardly with honor 326 00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:55.160 as a guest, but in reality not allowed to leave 327 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:58.839 the island. Plato had walked into a political snake pit. 328 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:01.960 He was without a friend Dion, trying to counsel on 329 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:06.480 an autocrat who only partially trusted him. After some tense months, 330 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:09.839 Plato convinced Dionysus the Second to let him return home, 331 00:21:10.279 --> 00:21:12.960 promising that he would come back once the war was over. 332 00:21:13.400 --> 00:21:16.160 Plato returned to Athens, with Dion joining him at the 333 00:21:16.200 --> 00:21:19.839 academy for a time. A few years later, Dionysus the 334 00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:24.000 Second called for Plato yet again, despite misgivings and his 335 00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:27.960 advancing age. Plato a third time sailed to Syracuse around 336 00:21:27.960 --> 00:21:32.720 three sixty one BCE, hoping to reconcile Dion and Dionysus 337 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:36.960 and achieved some philosophical influence on the regime. This final 338 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:41.160 Sicilian venture proved the worst. Dionysus the Second not only 339 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:44.480 refused to restore Dion to favor, but once more placed 340 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:48.759 Plato under quasi house arrest. In Syracuse, Plato was isolated 341 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:52.680 and unable to effect meaningful change at court. He escaped 342 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:55.839 only thanks to the intercession of the Pythagorean friends from Italy, 343 00:21:56.799 --> 00:22:01.359 including Architas of Tarentum, who negotiated his release. Freed from 344 00:22:01.400 --> 00:22:04.839 Syracuse at last, Plato returned to Athens, shaken and resolved 345 00:22:04.839 --> 00:22:08.319 to stay out of Syracuse and politics for good. Subsequently, 346 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:11.960 Dion gathered mercenaries, and in three fifty seven BCE he 347 00:22:12.039 --> 00:22:15.400 did overthrow Dionysus a second by force and action Plato 348 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:19.680 did not endorse. Dion ruled Syracuse briefly, but was assassinated 349 00:22:19.720 --> 00:22:23.599 in three fifty four BCE, plunging the city into further chaos. 350 00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:28.119 These episodes affirmed to Plato how intractable real world politics 351 00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:31.440 could be, and how difficult it was to enact philosophical 352 00:22:31.480 --> 00:22:35.880 ideals amid greed and power struggles. In his Seventh Letter, 353 00:22:36.119 --> 00:22:38.839 if it is indeed by Plato, as many scholars believe, 354 00:22:39.319 --> 00:22:43.440 Plato reflects on these events, expressing bitter disappointment at Dionysus 355 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:46.640 the second's character and acknowledging that his hopes of a 356 00:22:46.680 --> 00:22:52.559 philosopher king went unrealized. By three to sixty BCE, Plato 357 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:55.640 was back at the Economy, and there he remained, presumably 358 00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:59.599 pouring his experience and lessons into his writings. One less 359 00:22:59.599 --> 00:23:02.359 than result both of the Sicilian adventures was a deepening 360 00:23:02.359 --> 00:23:07.119 of Plato's pessimism about unphilosophical politicians, a theme evident in 361 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:10.359 later dialogues like Statesmens and Laws, where he grapples with 362 00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:13.400 the gulf between ideal theories and the practical governance of 363 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:19.039 flawed humans. Plato's fames rest on his dialogues, vivid literary conversations, 364 00:23:19.079 --> 00:23:22.960 mostly featuring Socrates as a protagonist, through which Plato examined 365 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:26.200 a vast range of philosophical questions. At least twenty five 366 00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:29.640 dialogues and a dozen more of disputed authenticity have come 367 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:32.319 down to us. They are typically divided by scholars into 368 00:23:32.319 --> 00:23:37.119 three chronological groups, Early, Middle, and Late dialogues, which reflect 369 00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:40.599 shifts in Plato's style and philosophical focus. The exact order 370 00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:43.160 of composition is not certain, but a rough progression can 371 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:47.200 be discerned Early dialogues. In these, Plato attempts to capture 372 00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:50.079 the spirit of the historical Socrates. They is set during 373 00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:53.640 socrates lifetime and focus on ethical questions, often ending without 374 00:23:53.640 --> 00:23:57.319 a clear resolution. Socrates here mostly asks probing questions, but 375 00:23:57.440 --> 00:24:02.279 proposes few doctrines of his own. Exact samples Apology Socrates 376 00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:06.960 Trial Defense, Eutherpo on piety, Creto on justice and obedience 377 00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:11.400 to law, Charmedies on temperance, Lachets on courage, Protagorists on 378 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:15.720 whether virtue can be taught, Gorgias a critique of rhetorical persuasion, 379 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:19.039 and a Debate on justice, and Ion on poetic inspiration. 380 00:24:20.039 --> 00:24:24.240 In these texts, Socrates is portrayed as a staunch moral intellectualist, 381 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:27.839 believing that virtue is knowledge and that nobody does wrong willingly, 382 00:24:28.079 --> 00:24:31.680 but only out of ignorance. The early dialogues lay the 383 00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:34.759 groundwork for Plato's later theories by examining moral concepts and 384 00:24:34.799 --> 00:24:39.039 exposing the inadequacies of conventional notions of goodness. Then we 385 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:42.640 have the Middle Dialogues. Plato's own philosophical voice emerges more 386 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:46.680 boldly here, even as Socrates remains the lead character. These 387 00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:50.839 dialogues introduce Plato's most famous doctrines, notably the theory of forms, 388 00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:55.119 and often present positive philosophical theories rather than simply questioning others. 389 00:24:55.519 --> 00:24:59.160 The middle period works are also literary masterpieces with dramatic depth. 390 00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:05.319 Key examples Meno Fato, Symposium, Republic, and Phagus. In the Meno, 391 00:25:05.400 --> 00:25:08.759 Socrates and a young interlocutor explore whether virtue can be taught, 392 00:25:09.240 --> 00:25:11.599 leading to the paradox of inquiry and the idea that 393 00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:15.119 learning is recollection of knowledge the soul knew before birth, 394 00:25:15.559 --> 00:25:19.920 introducing Plato's doctrine of anamnesis the soul's pre existence. The 395 00:25:19.960 --> 00:25:23.240 Feto contains Plato's first full argument for the immortality of 396 00:25:23.240 --> 00:25:26.079 the soul, asserting that the soul, being akin to the 397 00:25:26.119 --> 00:25:29.599 eternal and unchanging forms, lives on after the body's death. 398 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:33.000 In Symposium, a series of speeches by Socrates and others 399 00:25:33.079 --> 00:25:37.400 unfold the concept of erros love, culminating in Socrates relaying 400 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:40.400 the teachings of Diatoma, who describes a latter of love, 401 00:25:40.519 --> 00:25:44.000