Roger introduces Plato's Apology as a gateway into the foundational root of the entire Western philosophical tradition. At the heart of this lecture is Socrates standing trial for his life before the city of Athens — delivering not an apology in the modern sense, but a fearless defense of the philosophic life. Guided by an inner divine voice since childhood and charged by the Delphic Oracle as the wisest of men, Socrates spent his life exposing the ignorance of politicians, poets, and craftsmen out of a deep religious duty to awaken Athens to the truth that real wisdom belongs to God alone. Drawing on Pythagorean roots, the nature of imagination and memory, and the Socratic practice of inquiry as spiritual transformation, Weir illuminates why Socrates remains the single root source from which all of Western education and philosophy ultimately flows.
This presentation by Roger Weir was delivered on January 4, 1990.
More information about these presentations can be found at
https://sharedpresencefoundation.org/presentations/plato
https://sharedpresencefoundation.org/presentations/platos-theory-of-education
https://sharedpresencefoundation.org/presentations/plato-ii
More presentations by Roger Weir are available at the Shared Presence Foundation website and on our YouTube channel