In this episode, Peter Adamson of King’s College London discusses the life story and writings of Plato, focusing on the question of why he wrote dialogues.
- 11:40 : Philosophy is best carried out in discussions.
- Why do so many dialogues end in impasse?
- He wants his readers to engage actively with the dialogues
Raphael Woolf on Socrates
Peter’s colleague Raphael Woolf joins him to discuss Socrates as he is portrayed by Plato: the gadfly of Athens. But was he an ascetic? And could it really be true that virtue is knowledge?
Socrates failed to get his interlocators to rethink themselves.
History of Philosophy: Making the Weaker Argument the Stronger: the Sophists
In this episode, Peter Adamson discusses the sophists, teachers of rhetoric in ancient Athens, looking especially at the contributions of Protagoras and Gorgias.
The sophists argued that virtue was what was advantageous from one’s position.Plato was the diametrical opposition of the Sophists.
History of Philosophy without any gaps
Peter Adamson, Professor of Philosophy at the LMU in Munich and at King’s College London, takes listeners through the history of philosophy, “without any gaps.” The series looks at the ideas, lives and historical context of the major philosophers as well as the lesser-known figures of the tradition.