Great Course - Masters of Greek Thought

Masters of Greek Thought: Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle

Taught By Professor Robert C. Bartlett, Ph.D., Boston College

 My latest Great Course was this one on the Greek philosophers.  I had a smattering of this subject in college, but only a smattering.  I decided a more thorough study might be instructive.

And, yes, it was instructive.  But, sorry to say, it was not enthralling -- as so many of the Great Courses have been.  The course is 36 lectures in length, but I am afraid that was too long for the amount of learning I did.

Key points I learned:

• Socrates was, in fact, a pre-Socratic before his "Turn."
• The "Turn" was away from "natural philosophy" -- which is an ancient precursor to what we would call "science" today.
• The "Turn" was toward a study of the theoretical importance of moral-political philosophy, and in particular about virtue -- which he deemed far more important in understanding true causes.
• Socrates did some thinking and teaching about the best way to organize a "nation" but it was Aristotle who spent significant time on it.
• Aristotle was far more willing to tackle philosophy on topics which are directly applicable to daily life than Socrates was.
• But Aristotle was much, much harder to understand -- his writing is dense.
• Then again, Socrates did not write at all, so it's a good thing Plato did.

As I mentioned, both Socrates and Aristotle talked about how to build the best nation.  Interestingly, though democracy got its historical legs under it in the Greece of their time, neither of them would have chosen democracy as the "best" -- but then again, their "democracy" gave each "citizen" a direct vote on all matters, while ours is a representative democracy, which does resemble an oligarchy in some respects.  And so, the system of government we have today in the U.S. is similar in style to the "best" envisioned by Aristotle, except that our government's founding goals centered on "freedom" rather than "virtue."  There are still key differences, of course, but it is very interesting how influential these philosophers were on the history of modern political science.

On the whole, I am glad I took the course.  I cannot recommend it as highly as I have almost every other Great Course.  If you are interested to learn about the philosophical techniques used by Socrates, or you want a guide to help you through the difficult reading Aristotle left for posterity, this is a Great Course for you.  But if you want something quick and easy, try something else.  I have a feeling there is no "quick and easy" way to study these seminal thinkers.