0:00 Plato 10:29 Plato's early life 13:17 Socrates 15:07 Influences 26:32 Travels 33:40 The Academy
44:20 Body of Work 50:33 Literary Device 52:39 Accurate? 55:15 Reputation 1:01:40 Influence 1:03:37
Quest for Truth / Beauty 1:16:33 Beauty Is Not Subjective 1:30:30 Plato's Central Arguments: Forms
1:33:21 The Soul Divided 1:41:17 Good Introduction 1:51:30 Plausible Deniability? 1:53:32 'The Allegory
Of The Cave' by Plato 2:04:53 Verbal vs Written 2:07:19 Divine Insight 2:13:32 Ethics 2:19:01 The
Republic 2:20:43 Ideal State 2:27:30 Plato 2:34:00 Eugenics 2:47:31 Socialism 2:53:56 Reason 2:56:54
Democracy 3:14:58 Socrates: 60's to SJW 3:21:03 The Laws 3:44:26 Dangerous Arts 3:52:59 Platonic
Love 3:57:19 Math / Science 4:01:01 Conclusion Plato (429?–347 BC) – was preceded by Socrates, and
succeeded by Aristotle. Both a philosophical and a literary genius – we only have lecture notes from
Aristotle, though he was also thought a great writer. The literary beauty of Plato’s “Dialogues” has had
great influence – most of what we know about Socrates (who wrote nothing) we get from Plato – The
Trial and Death of Socrates. Plato was an Athenian citizen of high status, consumed with the politics of
his time – but he extrapolated from his time to all time. Plato ranks at the highest level, along with
Aristotle, Kant and Aquinas. It has been said that, deep down, every person is either a Platonist or an
Aristotelian… “Platonism” is fundamentally about the challenge of concept formation – what is the
source of our universal abstractions? For Aristotle, they come from repeated exposure to matter and
energy – for Plato, abstractions come from the realm of “Forms.” Platonism: the empiricism of what
Aristotle would call “unreality.” Plato is likely the first philosopher whose complete works are still
available to the world. Unlike his student Aristotle, Plato did not write systematic treatises, but instead
penned a number of dialogues (about 35, although the authenticity of at least some of these is
doubtful). These conversations allowed Plato to most vividly show the Socratic method of question and
answer. Plato’s characters discussed almost every aspect of philosophy: Ethics (the nature of virtue)
Metaphysics (reality, immortality, man, mind, and nature) Political Philosophy (censorship, power and
the ideal state) Religiosity/Theology (Atheism, Dualism and Pantheism), Epistemology (the study of
knowledge, a priori knowledge and Rationalism) Mathematics, aesthetics and art theories(dance, music,
poetry, architecture and drama). Plato himself does not show up in any of his dialogues as a character –
therefore he does not declare that anything in the conversations necessarily conform to his own views.
Plato’s characters are generally historical – Socrates is usually the protagonist (particularly in the early
dialogues). Plato’s dialogues did slowly improve the bad image of Socrates after his execution. The
enormity of Plato's influence was recorded by Diogenes Laertius who wrote: “He was the first author
who wrote treatises in the form of dialogues, as Favorinus tells us in the eighth book of his Universal
History. And he was also the first person who introduced the analytical method of investigation, which
he taught to Leodamus of Thasos. He was also the first person in philosophy who spoke of antipodes,
and elements, and dialectics, and actions (poiêmata) and oblong numbers, and plane surfaces, and the
providence of God.”