Will Durant---The Philosophy of Plato

PLATO 1. 00:03 The context of Plato 2. 08:36 Socrates 3. 26:40 Preparation of Plato 4. 34:58 the ethical problem 5. 41:28 the political problem 6. 48:01 the psychological problem 7. 52:34 the psychological solution 8. 01:12:30 the political solution 9. 01:26:56 the ethical solution 10. 01:32:26 criticism Thanks, Rocky C

I'm 73 and been in awe of Will Durant for over 50 years now. He and his wife Arial have achieved collectively a monumental work and I would rate him as pretty much the greatest historian who ever lived. His erudite philosophical passion and analysis of the past brngs its characters, zeitgeist & thinking vividly to life. Just picked up one his books from my shelf today, titled 'The Lessons of History' written at the end of his working life and strangely after all his efforts to understand the past he had this to say: "Is it possible that, after all, history has no sense, that it teaches us nothing, and that the immense past was only a weary rehearsal of the mistakes that the future is destined to make on a larger stage and scale?"

I own the entire set of, 'The Story of Our Civilization', by Will and Ariel Durant, and you do each of those books a great respect. Thank you for your audio readings. The Durants inspired me to dig further into history, as they make history fun. It's as if one is reading a fictional account, yet they are extremely accurate. History made fun. Thank you for bringing history alive, outside of my mind. Great job, brother.

Who would've thought history could be taught in such a delightful, light, yet clear, fashion. Amazingly read, vividly described.Thank you Rocky for your channel

I could listen to these books by Pulitzer Prize - winning historian Will Durant all day long ... heck, I do. All of them. Day and night. These Blackstone audio books are the perfect combination of incredibly well-written content read, in English, by an absolute master narrator in Grover Gardner. Cudos to the entire Durrant 11 Volume series.

Love what I consider to be the #1 Historian of the 20th Century. "The Story of Civilization" series is a must for anyone interested in history. I recall a section where he mentions about when some Middle-Eastern (I believe) noble or king, after the New World was found by Middle 2nd Millenia AD Europeans, who didn't like tobacco, had given some people dried horse dung and told them it was tobacco, and they proceeded to smoke it and then ranted and raved about how good it was... Lots of little bits of stuff like this in these books.

At 55 years in age. I have longed to learn the many lessons offered/shared by the well known philosopher's. I enjoy learning a great deal. Yet I dislike reading, therefore lessons given by audio or video are beneficial for those like myself. I am extremely grateful for this share and experience. Thank you.

Will Durant is a pillar of history.

What an excellent series. I kept putting off listening but I am now hooked. It is enhanced even more by the narrator who is one of my favorites.

This channel is a shinning light in the midst of the chaotic fog... please never take this down

If you're not aware of Will Durant, his "Story of Civilization" is brilliant, eleven volumes. He has several other excellent books.

Fantastic share. Easy to follow and understand. Should be incorporated into the curriculum of today's elementary/adolescent students educational experience. Opening young minds at an early age. Might lead to a more insightful and beneficial take on education and life's challenges.

Thank you for posting this video. I love listening to these. Such eye opening information and wonders, and facts

I was just thinking how fitting this man's voice and pronunciation are to these writings. Good stuff.

This is great, i have this book but its nice to have the audio version as well!

This content is water after wandering the desert nearly until death. Our modern world causes one who thinks on any of it's parts black depression & bottomless nihilisim, this offering is a salve to that wound that afflicts our very soul. Thank you so very much for it's production & upload.

As I'm getting to the part of Plato's Utopia, I cannot help but notice the increasing similarities in Huxley's Brave New World, with its classes of Rulers, Merchants, Soldiers, and Workers, each of whom think themselves the best. Plato's ideas sound modern, perhaps we should say timeless, and we should perhaps comfort ourselves that in a thousand years, men will still be writing of Utopias as they will be learning arithmetic.

A wonderful contextualisation of Plato and the implications of his work and life. Highly appreciated and recommended, indeed philosophy is the channel upon which all rivers must flow in their path to the endless sea of meaning and purpose.

Ως Έλληνας, θα ήθελα να τα είχα μάθει λίγο καλυτερα ολα αυτά στο σχολειο. Ειναι ιδεες που διαχρονικά καλλιεργούσαν την ισορροπία και την υγειή δημοκρατία στις φωτισμένες κοινωνίες. Η Ελλαδα και η Δύση σημερα ωφελεί να διαφυλάξει οτιδήποτε Ελληνικό ως σημείο αναφοράς. ❤️🇬🇷🌹

Great book, excellent narration (I think this voice actor also read 'the Name of the Rose).' Thank you for posting.

Will and Ariel Durant wrote the best introduction to world history ever written.

Can I just say that ( even as a Brit) I find a North American accent extremely pleasant to listen to . There seems to be an element of accent " snobbery " in certain videos : unfortunately many Brits haven't realised that they DON'T all sound like James Mason or Olivier ! !

I listen to your channel all the time and have not yet said thank you. Thank you.

The time spent reading Durant's works was a year of happy reading.

This was great; I just wish there was information on his theory of forms. I find that fascinating.

Absolutely well done and definitely keep it up!!! 👍👍👍👍👍

This was a gem, I’m so glad that I came across Will Durant

This gent reads beautifully, and at just the right pace

Man,, how the story being told by will durrant is different than bertrand russel. When i hear this version it touches my soul and my heart.

this is very powerful it keeps one soul at peace and in lighting the mind and broad the bring.

Me getting distracted and then seeing the face of Plato and it seems that he is saying,'Hey are u listening or not?'😂

Thank you for your channel Rocky C. ! Absolutely amazing treasure!!!

The dispassionate delivery is refreshing. Allows the listener to form conclusions without dramatic interference.

Highly enjoyable. Thank you Will Durant

Oh, thank you! 😍 I've been looking for this audio book for a long time.

Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are great philosophers of the world.People could not forget them..'Universal Arrow',Kerala,India.

Can only remember this as a series of books, never got into 'books on tape' or the like. I love to read since i was given the opportunity to love to learn & to love HOW to learn. Montessori school instead of kindergarten for 2 (or maybe 3 yrs.) so when I went to public school, I could read, write, multiply, divide, they said I was already at a 5th-6th grade level. I became essentially an autodidact & the academic aspect of school was awful until i went to college, but I developed an erratic self-discipline & was an attention-seeker, it wasn't good, except I learned to be funny (like a class clown, as public school bored me & I had a bad attitude) & to help others ( did wind up working w/ various less-fortunate populations, people w/ autism & other issues) .

great reader... he did alot of books-on-tape in the last century. many different wonderful nomes d lectur...

How unfortunate that the modern school system has forgotten the lessons taught to us by Plato.

You are my go to for Will Durant. Thank you

When Plato talked about guardians and philosopher kings only living frugal lives he really jumped the shark. No person or persons once obtaining power will long remain impoverished. They will covet what others have and will gain it as the price of permission to those who don't have the power but have the gold.

I love your stuff. Listen daily. Cheers!!!

I love you, this is awesome, keep uploading will durant!

I would be honored to be liberated from the chains of ignorance that restrains me from knowing myself ,to properly understand any significance my internal identity could reveal as reality.

There's nothing older than a "new" idea. I was reading/studying early communist movements, 1500's, The Diggers/The Levelers in England, then I read about ancient Greek 800-500 B.C. and their discourses and elucidating on philosophy. *MEEPA* Metaphysics Epistemology Ethics Politics Aesthetics

his gaze met a horizon so distant, the sights he saw surround us today

I am 15 and thus video helps me sm to read my frst non fiction book. I am the point of questioning everything I won't say imma philosopher but the topic of internal philosophy to understand oneself bfr the world has intrigued me. And this video helps me read the big words which I do not under or can pronounce. I am using google to understand the stuff I don't understand. But this sure helps me read the book a lot and hopefully in future I won't need these videos to read properly.

I have an idea for a new episode for my podcast. I would title it “self development as an infinite resource of inspiration” for an artist, for the rest of his life. As they say, “if you know how to count, count to one”

Thank you man! For all this!

A template for the cornerstone of our lives.

Amazing how realitive this is in today's society, 2500 years later....

This video is truly a libation to Socrates, Plato, and most of all Justice.

well read! good job 👍

That account of Socrates death was intense. I wonder how accurate it is.

Honestly, how do you down-vote Will Durant?

Platon y la Atlantida. Y la Gruta. Un gran iniciado.

Wow, the info is crammed tight on this vid. So much interesting stuff!

"..Reeking with modernity and contemporary savour."Find the wisest amongst us and nominate them to office.

PLATO'S CRITIQUE OF DEMOCRACY "But even democracy ruins itself by excess-of democracy. Its basic principle is the equal right of all to hold office and determine public policy. This is at first glance a delightful arrangement; it becomes disastrous because the people are not properly equipped by education to select the best rulers and the wisest courses. As to the people they have no understanding, and only repeat what their rulers are pleased to tell them. To get a doctrine accepted or rejected it is only necessary to have it praised or ridiculed... Mob-rule is a rough sea for the ship of state to ride; every wind of oratory stirs up the waters and deflects the course. The upshot of such a democracy is tyranny or autocracy; the crowd do loves flattery, it is so 'hungry for honey', that at last the tdliest and most unscrupulous flatterer, calling himself the 'protector of the people' rises to supreme power." - Plato. The more Plato thinks of it, the more astounded he is at the folly of leaving to mob caprice and gullibility the selection of political officials-not to speak of leaving it to those shady and wealth-serving strategists who pull the oligarchic wires behind the democratic stage. Plato complains that whereas in simpler matters-like shoe-making-we think only a specially-trained person will serve our purpose, in politics we presume that every one who knows how to get votes knows how to administer a city or a state. When we are ill we call for a trained physician, whose degree is a guarantee of specific preparation and technical competence-we do not ask for the handsomest physician, or the most eloquent one; well then, when the whole state is ill should we not look for the service and guidance of the wisest and the best? To devise a method of barring incompetence and knavery from public office, and of selecting and preparing the best to rule for the common good-that is the problem of political philosophy. "But behind these political problems lies the nature of man; to understand politics, we must understand psychology. Like man, like state; governments vary as the characters of men vary ; . . , states are made out of the human natures which are in them; the state is what it is because its citizens are what they are. Therefore we need not expect to have better states until we have better men; till then all changes will leave every essential thing unchanged." - Plato.

Good and easy book thanks 🙏

Our founding fathers learned from this classical education the dangers of a "pure" democracy such as let everyone to vote to set a tax on you. That other thing I remember what Plato and Socrates said about the blessing of old age : you don't have to worry about pleasing women any more.

"When seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea."-Cantona.

Never did I realize the authoritative absolutist tone of Plato as being so similar to "1984".

Thank you for this great upload.

Love this channel.

I care about my art collectors as much as they care about me when someone orders costume composition, they ask to paint again one of those paintings sold years ago, but on a bigger size format I start three paintings, the size they want, and I send them photographs of my progress usually they end up buying not one but two and the third one usually gets sold within a year or two to someone else. Bogoslowsky

Need visuals of places being talked about and maps and people.☺️💕

Plato staring through my soul😊

Damn, this was really good.

How did I fall into such a pearl?

Appreciate it very much!

Wow, this is good stuff!

Listening to this No wonder were are doomed, that’s been and is our destiny all along....

Plato is as brilliant as the west has yet spoken.

My appreciation Sir!

“Woe to he who teaches men faster than they can learn.”

Who knows how these cherished beliefs became certainities with us.

Thanks for uploading!

This is rad. Thank you.

I'd like to have a marriage like him.

To keep myself from Boredom, I imagine this guy is Clank from Ratchet and Clank Explaining all of this to me.

This is 🔥 content

But from what book of Will Durant is this chapter?!

Men engrossed in the unseemly pursuit of power,having no control over their passion,make us the victims of that passion.All philosophy must be about character,or religious prejudice becomes the norm.

Good philosopher

The great Greek philosophers

I love Socrates!! The image above makes him look for northern European than the folks who knew him described him..

Alguien sabe si hay subtitulo se en castellano?

One of the ways to monitor new trends in society is to design a theory and hire a propagator/agitator to promote this theory.

Philosophers, back then, ate cheese, onions, olives, cabbages and wheat. Health eating!

13:47 - _this Socratic method, this demand for accurate definitions_ . Yes, indeed.

You can’t even imagine how lucky humanity is by having thousands of nations languages and many different races. Genetic diversity is a secret key for survival of the species.

1:26:56 The ethical solution

50:00 about human nature: psychology, the 3 types of personality.

Please don't stop uploading

Plato is a God! He caught the essence of human nature

Grover Gardner reads everyone's books I guess. Listening to The Stand by Stephen King. That man read 40 hours of that novel and I thought I'd never hear his voice again....nope. Here he is.

geez man... it would be swell if everyone in the USA listened from 41:27 to the end with an open mind

9:41 - Socrates _luring them into some shady nook of the temple porticoes and asking them to define their terms_ . We must not presume definitions.

Hi folks , thanks rocky , how come i never heard of Durrant ,is he not appreciated in America, i listen to many up loads, brings 0nes mind back to my earlier self . What? My mind is stimulated refreshed , remembering. I like to go slow ,have a smoke and coffee , wheres his critics , surely there's some. Anyway ,i do wish i discovered him much earlier ,kind regards from an open mind. S B 4am saturday.