Plato of Athens (Reading group, #3 FINAL meeting)

Dear Philosophers of Kingston,

The third/final meeting of our reading group on Robin Waterfield's book Plato of Athens: A Life in Philosophy.

For this meeting we will the following final chapters of the book:

• 6. The Middle Dialogues
• 4. Practicing Politics in Syracuse
• 5. Last Years

Hope to see some of you there. Please be sure to bring a lawn chair, and head towards the sheltered area with the bathrooms, we will be sitting behind that structure under a tree.

Cheers,
Colin

*** UPDATED NOTES ON FINAL SECTIONS OF THE BOOK ****

Meeting #3

Chapter 6 The Middle Dialogues
“Taken as a whole, Plato’s middle-period dialogues constitute probably the most famous sequence of philosophical writings that the Western world has ever produced” (158).

Interesting discussion of Plato on love. Love is a kind of desire (160), love of something and that something is something love lacks (e.g. beauty). But then Waterfield says that what people always love is goodness, that we want to be happy and fulfilled and immortal and only goodness achieves this. On p. 161 it is noted that Plato’s argument for love is often critiqued for being egotistical and cold—that we love other people not for themselves but only for their qualities and only as a means towards our own happiness (161). Waterfield suggests that Plato can avoid this criticism if we see Plato’s explanation as an ultimate vs proximate explanation of love, meaning that he is not saying that what consciously drives us to love are these things, but they are, ultimately, what is driving our psychology (even though we are not aware of it).

Question to discuss: Why love others? Is real love an expression of self-regarding or other-regarding concern? And this may depend on the type of loving relationship one considers, for example: love a parent has for a child, vs romantic partner, friend or themselves.

I skipped over the theory of forms, which I always find puzzling, but am happy to spend time discussing that if others wish to.

(173) Plato’s ethics is predicated upon humans have the following three parts of our soul that are linked to morality: (1) desires and appetites; (2) desire for preservation and (3) desire for understanding and truth.

Chapter 7 Practising Politics in Syracuse

180. It is suggested that Plato, perhaps because of guilt, desired to do something practical, hence jumped into the fray of trying to advise the tyrant in Syracuse (Dionysis). Plato’s goal is summarized (183) as follows: “to get Dion and Dionysis to reform Syracuse society until absolutism was reduced to constitutional rule under the law and the people given back some degree of freedom… Plato wanted to … turn Dionysis into a king, working with a constitution, rather than a tyrant. P. 189 Plato believed that political reform started with personal reform. That moderate and self-disciplined behaviour would make him a better leader. Sadly things didn’t work out this way.

Chapter 8 Last years

Plato dies at age 76. Waterfield (p. 222) notes how much Athens and Greece changed during Plato’s lifetime. While he was growing up Athens as the most accomplished city-state, and then declined. The book concludes with the following statement on the inspiration and legacy of Plato:

“Human beings are naturally endowed with curiosity, and philosophy is the ultimate way of attempting to satisfy curiously. Philosophy begins in wonder, as Plato said. If we lose that sense of wonder- if we become immersed in the trivia of everyday life and what passes for popular “culture”- we risk living in a state universe. Plato’s thought was lasted well because there will always be those who refuse to quell their curiosity.” (230)

Final point to discuss: Let me throw out a large, armchair claim: in the era of social media- where the attention of many is fixating on the trivia of everyday life and what passes for “popular” culture- philosophy is more important than ever. When you think about your own intellectual curiosity over your lifetime to date, what things have served as catalysts or impediments, to keeping the curiosity burning and alive?