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Reading Plato | Resources | Autumn ’22

Class Times: 6.30 pm Wednesdays 4, 11, 18, 25 May & 1, 8 June 2022

Attend in the classroom: Greek Community, Level 2, 168 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

Attend Online: Zoom link for all classes || Dial-in back-up in case of internet disruptions: 03 7018 2005 | Meeting ID: 893 7228 5540 Passcode: 927376

Course Outline and weekly readings

Access to texts

All readings from ‘The Last Days of Socrates’ which includes the dialogues Euthyphro, Apology and Phaedo.

Catch-up class videos

Week 1

Session 1 | Philosophy, Scepticism and Wisdom   | Apology page 20c to 23e

Session 2 | What is Justice? | Euthyphro (complete)

All I experience is my experience”
If the “cup” exercise is not working for you, then why not try one of two classic exercises that take you to the very same conundrum. The first is Rene Descartes’ account of his Meditations. The second is Bertrand Russell’s Problems of Philosophy. Both accounts are very readable and readily available in many editions. In the first place, our interest is the conundrum itself, to see it clearly. Later, you may consider how each proceeds to different but similar solutions, and how Plato took in the other direction. The conundrum is often called “the problem of reference” in epistemology, made famous by Bishop Berkeley‘s critique of John Locke.


Week 3

Session 3 | Body & Soul | Phaedo page 60b to 69e

Week 4

Session 4 | The other side of things | Phaedo page 70a to 79e

Week 5

Session 5   | The absolute reality of ‘Forms’    | Phaedo page 84c to 100a

Week 6

Session 6 | What is Platonism? | Phaedo page 100c to 105e