Plato, Athenian Democracy, and the Greek Enlightenment - Philosophers in the Midst of History

Enroll in Six Key Platonic Dialogues online course (starting March 29) - https://reasonio.teachable.com/p/six-... Request personal videos on Cameo - https://www.cameo.com/gregorybsadler Get Plato's Collected Works - https://amzn.to/3TcoacF Support my work here -   / sadler   or here - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM Philosophy tutorials - https://reasonio.wordpress.com/tutori... Take classes with me - https://reasonio.teachable.com/ In this fifth installment of our quarterly series, Philosophers in the Midst of History, I discuss the life, thought, and importance of Plato in his historical context. Plato lived in ancient Athens and witnessed both the apex of its flourishing and some of its lower points as well. He was one of the young admirers and students of the philosopher Socrates, who was brought to trial, condemned, and executed in Athens on charges of impiety and corrupting the young. Plato would go on to develop his own philosophical position, starting from a Socratic basis, but incorporating more and more of his own ideas. In this lecture, we discuss the intellectual and social context of Plato's own thought, focusing in particular on the development of Democracy in Athens and the complex and conflicted history that involved, and on the broader "Greek enlightenment", which Plato is both part of and a critic of. We also discuss why Plato writes most often in dialogue form, and some key aspects of Platonic dialogues. The previous talks in the series focused upon Aristotle, Anselm of Canterbury, Rene Descartes, and Hannah Arendt. You can watch all the talks in this ongoing series here:    • Philosophers in the Midst of History | A Q...   The series has been renewed for next year, and we will be discussing Plato for the ancient period, Boethius for the medieval period, Thomas Hobbes for the early modern period, and Friedrich Nietzsche for the late modern period. For the longer playlist containing over 50 of my recent talks, click here:    • Presentations and Invited Lectures   Interested in booking me for a talk, discussion, or workshop? Click here: https://reasonio.wordpress.com/talks-...