Plato's Elite Pedagogy (course)

Plato's dialogues are often taught as a mere depiction of men inquiring into the nature of a certain virtue or form (what is justice, friendship and so on). Yet, implied in these discussions is also a pedagogical ideal. Socrates does not simply ask his interlocutors to inquire into the logical nature of a form or virtue. He also attempts to transmit a relation and method that grounds that inquiry.

We see this most obviously in specific short dialogues such as Laches, Lysis, Charmides, and Alcibiades. In each of these dialogues, we inquire into a specific virtue: courage, friendship, temperance and ambition. Yet implied in the interaction between these characters, lies a larger attempt to cultivate a pedagogical ideal that would be best conducive to a philosophical life - and of course - a philosophical society.

This course focusses on that implied pedagogical ideal - not to mention the politics that surround it. The relation between student and teacher. The relationship the philosopher has to his larger society. The nature of 'philosophical education'. The cultivation of new elites and rulers (this is practically the main focus of the Republic). And of course, how this innovation led to the trial and execution of Socrates. What disturbance did this pedagogical ideal create within Athenian society?

Far from a mere academic discourse into the nature of an abstracted form or virtue, I ground these lectures and readings within the pedagogical form itself, on one hand, and on the other, within the real history of Athenian society. (Alcibiades, for example, was a real person, as was Nicias, one of the interlocuters seen in Laches, among others).

This course comes with supplementary lectures on two sections from Plutarch's The Rise and Fall of Athens: The biography of Alcibiades and Nicias (two influential leaders of Athenian society during the Peloponnesian war). To put it simply, the fall of Athens itself - and the larger historical reality of Greece at that time - is vital to understanding what exactly Plato and Socrates were attempting to achieve through philosophy.

Finally, the course ends with a reading of Socrates' speech in The Apology. How could this unique framing of philosophical education influence our understanding of Socrates himself, his ostracization and execution?

This course comes with 7 video lectures; mostly between one and two hours in length. It also comes with one private, flexibly scheduled video discussion (unrecorded) with me. Here we can discuss the lectures and readings and inquire further into these dialogues.