Plato of Athens: A Life in Philosophy | Robin Waterfield
The Eric Metaxas Show
Salem Podcast Network
4.6 • 3.6K Ratings
🗓️ 4 August 2025
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What do we really know about Plato, the philosopher whose ideas have shaped Western thought for over two millennia? Drawing on Robin Waterfield’s recent biography, Plato of Athens, the author and classical scholar joins Socrates in the City host, Eric Metaxas, to explore the life, context, and enduring influence of Plato. Using Waterfield’s biography as a foundation, the discussion delves beyond the familiar image of Plato as Socrates’ devoted student to reveal a more complex and compelling figure: a political thinker, literary craftsman, and spiritual visionary whose work continues to challenge and inspire us today. They discuss the Academy and Plato’s Republic, the many myths surrounding his life, and the legacy Platonic thought in society.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to listen to a man of grace, sophistication, integrity, and whimsy. |
| 0:19.2 | Well, so are we. |
| 0:20.3 | But until such a man shows up, |
| 0:21.6 | please welcome Eric Matt, Texas. |
| 0:24.6 | Hey there, folks. |
| 0:28.6 | It is Friday, August 1st, |
| 0:31.6 | 2025. |
| 0:33.6 | What happened? |
| 0:34.6 | It's Friday. |
| 0:35.6 | But listen, here's the good news. This summer, every Friday, |
| 0:40.0 | we're calling it a Socrates in the City Friday. We're playing a Socrates in the City conversation. |
| 0:46.5 | Today, we're going to play my conversation with Robin Waterfield. Robin Waterfield, he lives, |
| 0:54.0 | actually, he's from the UK, as you'll tell from his voice, |
| 0:57.4 | but he lives in Greece. And this summer, when we did our Greek cruise, some of you listen to this |
| 1:03.6 | program, you were there, before we left on the boat for the cruise around the Greek islands |
| 1:09.6 | and Istanbul and all that, we spent a few days in Athens. |
| 1:13.5 | And I thought, Athens, wait a minute, didn't Socrates live in Athens? |
| 1:18.1 | And we looked it up and turned out he had lived in Athens. |
| 1:20.6 | And I thought, wouldn't it be great to do a Socrates in the city event in Athens? |
| 1:26.8 | And a lot of Socrates's relatives were there. Now, they didn't know they were |
| 1:30.7 | Socrates' relatives, but I just, I'm just guessing that when you think about the gene pool, |
| 1:34.6 | probably some of them were related to Socrates. In any event, Robin Waterfield is a scholar |
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