Tomorrow we start our first philosophy class with Plato’s Apology, so here’s the quick background. Socrates lived in Athens from around 469–399 BCE. He never wrote a book. Almost everything we know about him comes from other people, especially Plato. Plato was much younger than Socrates and became one of his followers. Socrates’ execution seems to have had a huge effect on him, and many of Plato’s early dialogues preserve Socrates as the main character. That creates an important question whenever we read Plato. Are we hearing the historical Socrates, or Plato’s version of Socrates? We can’t always know. Before Socrates, many Greek philosophers were focused on questions about nature. - Thales: What is everything made of? - Heraclitus: Is everything constantly changing? - Parmenides:Can real being ever change? - Pythagoreans: What do number and harmony tell us about reality? Socrates turns the conversation much more directly toward human life: - What is justice? - What is courage? - What is virtue? - What makes someone good? - How do you know that you actually know what you claim to know? That last question is very important in the Apology. The oracle at Delphi supposedly declared that nobody was wiser than Socrates. Socrates found this confusing, so he went around questioning politicians, poets, craftsmen and other respected people. He discovered that many people were confident they knew things they couldn’t actually explain. His conclusion was essentially: “What I do not know, I do not think I know either.” — Apology 21d That is much closer to Socrates than the famous line “I know that I know nothing.” The historical setting matters too. Athens had recently lost the Peloponnesian War to Sparta, gone through political upheaval under the Thirty Tyrants, and only recently restored democracy. Socrates was already controversial. Aristophanes had mocked him in The Clouds, and some people associated him with dangerous intellectuals and politically notorious figures.

For our first class, I was thinking about it. and I don’t want to rush straight into Plato. I think it makes more sense to first build the foundation for everything we’re going to explore over the coming weeks. So we’ll start with an Introduction to Philosophy as a whole. We’ll talk about: - Where philosophy comes from and some of its historical context - What philosophers are actually trying to do when they ask these big questions - Some of the major areas of philosophy we’ll encounter - Questions around the good life, knowledge, morality, reality, meaning, and more - What we’ll be covering throughout this Intro to Philosophy course Then, if we have time, we’ll begin our first reading: - Plato’s Apology: The account of Socrates being put on trial and defending the way he chose to live. So for this Sunday, don’t worry about finishing the entire text. Having roughly the first 5 pages read is more than enough. This first meeting is really about giving everyone the context and foundation so the philosophers and readings we explore afterward make more sense. And as always, there will be plenty of time for questions and discussion. If you can’t make it live, the recording will be added to Philosophy School afterward so you can catch up. See you Sunday!

Plato believed the human soul has three parts: 1. Reason — the part that thinks, judges, and tries to understand what is true 2. Spirit — the part connected to pride, courage, anger, ambition, and the desire for recognition 3. Appetite — the part that wants pleasure, comfort, food, sex, money, and other desires For Plato, a good life depends on these parts being in the right order. - Reason should guide. - Spirit should support reason. - Appetite should be controlled rather than allowed to run everything. The problem is that our lives often feel like the opposite. We know what we should do… but we still want the easier option. So here’s the question for you... Which part of your “soul” do you think controls you the most right now -- reason, spirit, or appetite? + do you think Plato is right that a good life requires reason to be in control? Drop your thoughts below 👇

Here is the link to check out the reading and what we will be going over on Sunday! https://www.skool.com/the-philosophy-academy-7958/classroom/112b5377?md=ed8975180fc44c36a67d717c4505c9b2 Remember you don't have to read all the pages by Sunday, even just a few pages will suffice. We will probably spend the next 2-3 Sundays to actually go over everything so you have plenty of time to read it all. I will be making a presentation and sharing my screen to discuss. If at any point you have questions just use the "raise a hand" feature and we will stop to answer the question. We'll leave Q&As/discussions to the end of the time! (here is the link to the PDF in case you miss it)