Category Archives: plato

Commentary on Plato, “Apology of Socrates” (Part 1)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 Note: If you find this of any use, please share it with others. The text that will be quoted is Thomas and Grace West’s translation in Four Texts on Socrates (Cornell 1987; full disclosure: Tom West is a professor of mine). The notes are …

October 31, 2010 – 5:06 am | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, plato | Comments (0)

Socrates in Hades: On Plato’s Protagoras, Part III

Part 1 | Part 2 From Part 1: there may be a conflict between poetry and the city. Poetry oftentimes works on the assumption “virtue is knowledge:” isn’t it the case if you read a poem well, you will be better for it? The city, on the other hand, has laws and enforcers of the …

August 20, 2010 – 5:15 am | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, plato | Comments (0)

Socrates in Hades: On Plato’s Protagoras, Part II

Below is an outline of the Protagoras that should make things clearer even to those who have not read the dialogue. If you are really pressed for time, the most important sections are “Protagoras’ myth,” followed by “Protagoras’ logos,” and the Socratic concerns about virtue which precede Protagoras’ myth. This post is about 1400 words. …

July 19, 2010 – 10:57 am | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, plato | Comments (2)

Socrates in Hades: On Plato’s Protagoras, Part I

Originally, I wanted to post comments regarding a reread of the Republic I am supposedly doing. But so many issues went over my head I broke away from the reread and started reading the Greater Hippias. While a shorter dialogue, the discussion of “the beautiful” and how it relates to how we use “both” and …

July 18, 2010 – 12:43 am | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, plato | Comments (4)

On the intersection of poetry, politics and philosophy

I’ve owed all of you an explanation for this blog for some time, but I dread writing posts like these. The best discussion of how poetry, politics and philosophy relate is Book X of Plato’s Republic. What is below is obviously not meant to replace that discussion in any way. All I want to do …

December 3, 2009 – 11:41 am | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, plato, poetry, politics, xenophon | Tagged | Comments (0)

Briefly Noted: Plato’s “Menexenus”

The dialogue this is a commentary on is reasonably short – a copy with section numbers is here if you’re interested. The translation quoted below is Jowett’s. The Menexenus ends with Socrates promising to tell more grand political orations to a young up-and-coming politician if the latter will not reveal to the source that he …

November 1, 2009 – 10:52 am | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, plato | Comments (0)

Just finished a Straussian ritual, Aristophanes’ “Clouds:” Preliminary Notes on the Limits of Comedy

1. Consideration of comedians: they use laughter to make everything ridiculous. The good things, while made ridiculous, still are essentially good and cannot be dismissed. They are necessary no matter how much we laugh. The bad things, made ridiculous, fall away quickly. All comedians – including those who believe all is spin, such as Jon …

November 11, 2008 – 8:30 am | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, plato, xenophon | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Post-Election: A Practical Agenda, and Consideration of a Passage from Plato’s “Cleitophon”

I. I wasn’t going to say anything about the election until I saw this nonsense being spouted, and realized that I have to practice what I preach. I can’t allow my fellow conservatives to indulge in the paranoid “everything is a conspiracy against us” narrative complete with a “if McCain had run further to the …

November 5, 2008 – 5:12 am | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, plato, politics | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Exhortation: Why the Liberal Arts? Is There A Lasting Good? (And Why the University of Dallas?)

After seeing a whole class of undergraduates sit like bumps on a log and not say anything or register any sort of reaction when the Gettysburg Address was being introduced, and then seeing more bumps on a log at the graduate level when the class was focused on Rousseau’s Second Discourse/the problem of whether any …

March 30, 2008 – 8:18 pm | By ashok | Posted in plato, politics | Tagged , | Comments (3)

Socrates at the University of Dallas

Glen Thurow thinks it important to emphasize that “self-evident truth” isn’t known to all, but is something that all can know. After a discussion with a very capable freshman tonight, I think he’s onto something to which I should pay more attention. Tonight was the Graduate Mixer, notable for its “free booze.” I skipped out …

March 1, 2008 – 1:15 am | By ashok | Posted in education, philosophy, plato | Comments (0)