HoP 033 - Last Judgments - Plato, Poetry and ...

La Rochefoucauld and other “moralists” offer a penetrating and witty critique of human pride, selfishness, and hypocrisy. Is this just cynicism, or does it support a positive ethic? 

How the French formal garden embodied both Cartesian philosophy and the political ideology of the French monarchy. 

Is it always better to be just than unjust? That is the central question of Plato's Republic, discussed here by Melvyn Bragg and guests. Writing in c380BC, Plato applied this question both to the individual and the city-state, considering earlier and current forms of government i ...  Show more

Protagoras by Plato audiobook. Genre: philosophy In Plato's Protagoras, a young and ambitious Athenian named Hippocrates rushes to Socrates with exciting news: the celebrated sophist Protagoras has arrived in town, and Hippocrates wants to become his student. Socrates agrees to a ...  Show more

Gorgias by Plato audiobook. Genre: philosophy In Plato's Gorgias, a late-night conversation in Athens turns into a fierce trial of what it means to live well. Socrates meets the celebrated rhetorician Gorgias and his ambitious students, Polus and Callicles, and presses a deceptiv ...  Show more

Ion by Plato audiobook. Genre: philosophy In Ion, Plato stages a sharp and surprisingly playful conversation between Socrates and Ion, a celebrated rhapsode who earns his living performing and interpreting Homer for public audiences. Fresh from a competition victory, Ion claims s ...  Show more