Plato sowed the seeds of Western art theory. His brief discussions on the topic, spread throughout his dialogues, give us a glimpse into his ideas. On one hand, these ideas can seem incomplete, fragmented, or even confusing. On the other hand, they can be strikingly profound and thought provoking. Regardless, one thing that Plato’s art […]
Category Archives: Plato’s Dialogues
86. Plato’s Love-Hate Relationship with the Arts, Part I
I’d like to thank you for your patience. I haven’t posted in a while because I’ve been concentrating on my Master’s program in Sacred Arts at Pontifex University. I am now over the halfway point. Additionally, I’m working on a book for my program about how ancient cultures and philosophers recognized the mathematics of beauty […]
85. Plato’s Dialogue ‘Ion’ -Inspiration in Poetry, Human, Divine, or Demonic?
Musical artist Joni Mitchell once said, “Music comes from the muses, and not other musicians,” illustrating that the concept of the muse is alive and well in modern times. Many would say that she was speaking figuratively, but was she? Music comes from the muses. -Joni Mitchell This leads us to the question: where do […]
80. Phaedo on the Soul and the Afterlife, Part 3
Despite all of our technology, the Greeks were, in many ways, wiser than we are. We should not mistake knowledge for wisdom, for we have much more knowledge. They were wiser for many reasons, but especially because they recognized that human beings have immortal souls, something that we have lost today. This is the subject […]
79. Phaedo on the Soul and the Afterlife, Part 2
Many people think about the afterlife on a regular basis, while others avoid the subject. But coming to grips with our mortality is essential if we are going to have any sort of meaningful life. This is what Plato’s Phaedo is all about. After all, as the saying goes, if you don’t know how to die, […]
78. Phaedo on the Soul and the Afterlife, Part 1
Phaedo deals with the remaining hours of Socrates’ life. As such, there is much we can learn from it. The contrast above is stark and represents what Socrates accomplished in his death: turning the West from a violence-based culture to one of reason. On the right, we have the famous Greek hero Achilles, whose death […]
76. Plato’s ‘Meno’ Part 2; A Common Uneducated Slave
Can a common, uneducated slave do complex geometry without ever learning it? This is one of the questions in Plato’s Meno. Plato was hoping that the answer to this question was yes, for that would give hope to slaves everywhere. This and other unusual aspects of the dialogue make it one of Plato’s most interesting […]
75. The Essence of Virtue – Plato’s ‘Meno’ Part 1
The Essence of Virtue – Plato’s ‘Meno’ Part 1
71. Plato’s ‘Crito’: Crito’s Attempt to Rescue Socrates from Death, Part 2
In part I of this story, I explained how Crito tried unsuccessfully to convince Socrates to abandon his noble stance of proceeding with his execution and implored him to take the escape route planned out by Crito and others. I discussed how Crito approached the situation from a totally self-centered perspective: What would Crito’s friends […]
69. Plato’s ‘Crito’: Crito’s Attempt to Rescue Socrates from Death, Part 1
In Plato’s dialogue Crito, we have an account of an attempt by Crito to rescue Socrates from death. Crito had devised a way of escape, but Socrates refused. Socrates’ adamant refusal to save his own life gives us yet another glimpse into the life of this humble philosopher who changed the course of Western civilization.