logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2011
18m 59s

HoP 020 - Virtue Meets Its Match - Plato...

PETER ADAMSON
About this episode
Ethics against immoralism in a Socratic masterpiece. 
Up next
Jul 12
HoP 497 Pure and Simple: Quietism
The “Quietists” Jeanne Guyon and François Fénelon argue that self-love can be overcome by cultivating a “pure love” for God. Their reward: to be accused of heresy. 
19m 10s
Jun 28
HoP 496 He Unwilling, She Unwilling: Jean Racine
How the “neo-classical” tragedies of Racine explore the battle between passion and reason. 
16m 51s
Jun 14
HoP 495 Comedy of Errors: Molière
Molière’s famous comedies scandalize Paris and dramatize themes from French moralism, especially the danger of hypocrisy. 
18m 3s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2020
Ep. 233: Plato's "Protagoras" on Virtue (Part One)
<p>On the Platonic dialogue written around 380 BCE about an encounter between Socrates and one of the leading Sophists of his day.</p> <p>What is virtue ("the political art" according to Protagoras), and can it be taught? What are the relations of the various virtues to each othe ... Show More
53m 56s
Aug 2023
Beyond Good and Evil #11: Immoralist Virtue Ethics (VII.214 - VII.230)
This part of the text is a re-evaluation of what morality is, or can be, for the philosopher of the future. Nietzsche is a bit sneaky here, by implying the free spirit, or philosopher of the future, to be admirable from the perspective of our own moral intuition. Nevertheless, he ... Show More
2h 22m
Jan 2019
Virtues and How To Be Happy
The symphony of virtues.  
46m 46s
Nov 2023
75: Socrates’ Apology
Socrates was a famous opponent of the Sophists, the teachers of rhetoric instead of truth - and yet, in his legal defense, he employs the techniques of rhetoric and displays a mastery of oratory. In a society that distrusted irony and regarded it as a form of dishonesty, Socrates ... Show More
1h 13m
Nov 2022
Virtue Ethics and The Quest for Character
<p>Massimo Pigliucci, philosophy professor and author, joins Breht once again, this time to discuss his newest book <em><a href= "https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/massimo-pigliucci/the-quest-for-character/9781541646957/"> "The Quest for Character: What the Story of Socrates and ... Show More
1h 5m
Jun 2011
Kant's moral philosophy
An examination of Kant's teachings on morality. 
13m 23s
Sep 2010
PREMIUM-Episode 25: Spinoza on Human Nature
Discussing Spinoza's the Ethics, Books II through V. 
31m 58s
Apr 2025
The Gay Science #14 (III.148-III.175)
Renaissance & Reformation, the critique of saintly virtue, the color we have thrown onto life and how it differs from that of the ancient world, and Nietzsche's attempt to "untangle the knot" of his moralization of the world by returning to the style of the moral maxim. Rapid fir ... Show More
2h 5m
Jan 2024
The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
Join Dr. Junius Johnson and Fr. Wesley Walker as they discuss Artistotle's famous treatise on virtue: The Nicomachean Ethics. How can we be happy? What is virtue and how do we acquire it? Why do friends matter? Listen to find out! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discus ... Show More
1h 17m
Aug 2010
PREMIUM-Episode 24: Spinoza on God and Metaphysics
Discussing Spinoza's Ethics (1677), books 1 and 2. 
31m 39s