Plato's Gorgias

In Our Time: Philosophy

BBC

History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 25 November 2021

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of Plato's most striking dialogues, in which he addresses the real nature of power and freedom, and the relationship between pleasure and true self-interest. As he tests these ideas, Plato creates powerful speeches, notably from Callicles who claims that laws of nature trump man-made laws, that might is right, and that rules are made by weak people to constrain the strong in defiance of what is natural and proper. Gorgias is arguably the most personal of all of Plato's dialogues, with its hints of a simmering fury at the system in Athens that put his mentor Socrates to death, and where rhetoric held too much sway over people. With Angie Hobbs Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield Frisbee Sheffield University Lecturer in Classics and Fellow of Downing College, University of Cambridge And Fiona Leigh Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at University College London Producer: Simon Tillotson

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to tell you why I love podcasting.
0:04.5	I'm Sasha Johansson, I'm an Assistant Commissioner for the BBC and I work on making podcasts.
0:11.1	My real passion is discovering unbelievable on her stories and working with the biggest
0:16.9	stars who can really bring those stories to life.
0:20.1	I love the whole process of making podcasts from the spark of an idea to hearing the final
0:26.0	edit.
0:27.0	There's nothing like it.
0:28.0	What makes BBC podcast special is that we're working for you, so whatever we commission
0:32.6	has to reflect the things that you care about and love, wherever you are in the UK.
0:37.0	So if you like this BBC podcast, there's so much more to discover.
0:40.6	Have a listen on BBC Sounds.
0:42.1	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:47.2	Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time.
0:49.8	There's a reading list to go with it on our website and you can get news about our programs
0:53.7	if you follow us on Twitter at BBC In Our Time.
0:57.0	I hope you enjoyed the programs.
0:59.2	Hello, Plato's Gorgeous is one of his most striking dialogues, addressing the real nature of
1:04.3	power and freedom and the relationship between pleasure and true self-interest.
1:10.0	To test these ideas, Plato creates some extraordinarily powerful speeches, notably from Cali-Clius,
1:15.3	who claims that laws of nature trump man-made laws that might is right and rules are for
1:20.9	the little people.
1:22.5	This is arguably the most personal of all Plato's dialogues with hints of a simmering rage
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.