Despite thousands of years of philosophical progress, one name stands firm and unsurpassed: Plato. But who was Plato the man? If there is anyone who can answer that question, it's our guest in this episode. Robin Waterfield is a renowned scholar of antiquity who has written the first ever full biography of the ancient philosopher in English. Check out the book here.
Contents of the episode, with timestamps:
01:33 The genius of Plato
03:50 Plato's early life
04:55 Relationship with Socrates
10:00 Plato's early doctrines
11:15 Philosophical method
12:37 Other teachers besides Socrates
13:48 Theory of Forms
17:24 How Plato became famous
20:46 Was Plato's depiction of Socrates accurate?
22:49 Sophists VS Philosophers
29:28 Rivalry with Isocrates
31:13 Founding the Academy
34:41 Relationship with Aristotle
40:04 Aristotle and Alexander the Great
42:28 The Academy's political activities
44:06 Political intrigues in Sicily
48:16 Disillusionment and later works
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