New Humanists
New Humanists
Latest Episodes
BONUS: On Translating Plato, feat. Colin Redemer
Can a translator get back "behind" Plato, figure out his true meaning, and then convey that into English? In his preface to his translation of Plato's Republic, Allan Bloom considers the sacred task lying before the man who studies the greatest...
The Ring of Gyges and the City of Pigs, feat. Pavlos Papadopoulos | Episode CXVI
Glaucon restarts the conversation about justice at the beginning of Book Two of Plato's Republic with this stipulation: Socrates must prove that justice is good in itself, not just good for the reputation it buys. Socrates says - perhaps to the...
BONUS: The Fifty Years
After a panhellenic force led by Sparta and Athens defeated the Persians, it took 50 years for the Greek world to fracture in two, pitting Sparta against Athens in the catastrophic Peloponnesian War. That 50-year interval of relative (but not t...
How Not to Define Justice, feat. Colin Redemer | Episode CXV
When you first pick up the world's most famous work of philosophy, Plato's Republic, you might be surprised to find that it starts with Socrates describing a day trip he took with his friend Glaucon to check out a festival happening just outsid...
BONUS: Will Athenian Civilization Die Tonight?
Complaining to Sparta about Athens' growing power and its breach of a peace treaty, Corinth sought to rouse its reluctant Spartan ally to arm itself and declare war on Athens. The cautious Spartan king Archidamus replied in a circumspect speech...