Plato's Pod: Dialogues on the works of Plato

Plato's Laws - Book XII, Part 2: The Nocturnal Council Guarding Virtue


Listen Later

Our final meeting on Plato’s longest dialogue, The Laws, concluded with readings from Book XII, where the Athenian expounds on the operation of a special Nocturnal Council that will act as the head and intellect for Crete’s new colony, Magnesia. On August 4, 2024, members of the Toronto, Calgary, and Chicago Philosophy Meetup groups considered many of the key themes of The Laws, in discussing how the Nocturnal Council would guard the virtue of the colony, its leaders, and its citizens. The unique aim of Magnesia’s constitution to be a virtuous and peaceful community, unlike constitutional goals many modern readers would be familiar with, requires a unity of principles, harmony, and laws based on reason, which will be the task of the Nocturnal Council to ensure. This led to a recollection of our first two meetings on The Laws, where we began with Book X and its justification that Reason itself is in the very centre of the universe, and is something far older than the physical matter that surrounds our immaterial souls. In concluding the dialogue, are we left with reason to think that Magnesia will be successful? The answer may depend on the meaning of virtue: is virtue, as the Athenian earlier stated, “the general concord of reason and emotion” and, as Socrates stated in the Meno, the account of the reasons why? Perhaps with today’s increasing global discord, some solutions might be found in Plato’s final dialogue, The Laws.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Plato's Pod: Dialogues on the works of PlatoBy James Myers

  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2

4.2

9 ratings


More shows like Plato's Pod: Dialogues on the works of Plato

View all
The History of English Podcast by Kevin Stroud

The History of English Podcast

6,414 Listeners

Dan Snow's History Hit by History Hit

Dan Snow's History Hit

4,807 Listeners

The New Statesman: politics and culture by The New Statesman

The New Statesman: politics and culture

148 Listeners

Mere Fidelity by Mere Fidelity

Mere Fidelity

335 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

112,376 Listeners

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat by New York Times Opinion

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

7,033 Listeners

The Duran Podcast by The Duran

The Duran Podcast

601 Listeners

The Ancients by History Hit

The Ancients

3,197 Listeners

The Rest Is History by Goalhanger

The Rest Is History

14,276 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

16,144 Listeners

The Nietzsche Podcast by Untimely Reflections

The Nietzsche Podcast

220 Listeners

Judging Freedom by Judge Napolitano

Judging Freedom

889 Listeners

The Rest Is Entertainment by Goalhanger

The Rest Is Entertainment

877 Listeners

The Rest Is Politics: US by Goalhanger

The Rest Is Politics: US

2,234 Listeners

The Chris Hedges Report by Chris Hedges

The Chris Hedges Report

332 Listeners