Teaching Plato's First Alcibiades with Dr. Daniel Shields

In this episode of the Great Books Podcast, Deacon Harrison Garlick and Dr. Daniel Shields discuss the significance of Plato's First Alcibiades, particularly in the context of its use at Wyoming Catholic College.

They explore the themes of self-knowledge, the relationship between philosophy and politics, and the importance of mentorship in education. The conversation delves into the character of Alcibiades as a reflection of the student experience, the role of spiritedness in the pursuit of wisdom, and the communal nature of the philosophical life.

Dr. Shields shares insights from his teaching experience, emphasizing the need for students to recognize their ignorance and the transformative power of philosophy as a way of life.

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From our guide:

First Alcibiades is both the beginning and a summation of Platonic philosophy. The dialogue “held pride of place in later antiquity as the ideal work with which to begin the study of Platonic philosophy.”[1] Its traditional subtitle was "on the nature of man,” and it was said First Alcibiades “contains the whole philosophy of Plato, as in a seed.”[2] The Islamic commentator, Al-Farabi, said that in First Alcibiades “all the Platonic questions are raised as if for the first time.”

At the heart of the dialogue is the maxim “know thyself,” which is in turn at the heart of the philosophic life. Plato uses a dialogue between a young Alcibiades, age twenty, and an older Socrates, age forty, to explore the Delphic maxim within the context of a teacher and student.[3] The relationship of the teacher as a lover of the soul of the student gave rise to the term "Platonic love," an intense, but non-sexual love in pursuit of excellence.[4]

The dramatic date of the dialogue is approximately 433 BC.[5] The composition date is a complicated question. First Alcibiades is considered by many to be a spurious dialogue or rather a dialogue written later by Platonists and not Plato. The dialogue sometimes has an earlier date around 390s BC and a later date in the 350s BC.[6] Some also hold the dialogue is a composite text with some being written by Plato and some being written by a later Platonist.

It should be noted, however, that antiquity held that the dialogue was written by Plato, and the idea that it was not originated recently in nineteenth century German scholarship.[7] For our purposes, we will side with antiquity and default to Plato as the authentic author.

Keywords: #Plato #Catholic #FirstAlcibiades #Philosophy #KnowThyself #GreatBooks

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[1] Plato, Complete Works, ed. John M. Cooper and D. S. Hutchinson (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1997), 557.

[2] Plato, The Roots of Political Philosophy: Ten Forgotten Socratic Dialogues, ed. Thomas L. Pangle Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1987), 222.

[3] Pangle, 222, fn.2.

[4] Id.

[5] Id.

[6] Cooper, 558.

[7] Cooper, 557-8.