Classic Audiobook Collection

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Symposium by Plato ~ Full Audiobook [philosophy] Jun 26, 2024

Show notes

Symposium by Plato audiobook.

Genre: philosophy

The Symposium is a philosophical book written by Plato sometime after 385 BCE. On one level the book deals with the genealogy, nature and purpose of love, on another level the book deals with the topic of knowledge, specifically how does one know what one knows. The topic of love is taken up in the form of a group of speeches, given by a group of men at a symposium or a wine drinking party at the house of the tragedian Agathon at Athens. Plato constructed the Symposium as a story within a story within a story. This architecture creates the space for Plato to build his philosophy of knowledge. The speech of Socrates points out that the highest purpose of Love is to become a Philosopher, or Lover of Wisdom.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:34:43) Chapter 2

(01:15:50) Chapter 3

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Statesman by Plato ~ Full Audiobook [philosophy] Jun 25, 2024

Show notes

Statesman by Plato audiobook.

Genre: philosophy

In Plato's Statesman, a searching conversation unfolds about what true political leadership really is - and why it is so rare. After earlier discussions about knowledge and expertise, the Eleatic Stranger returns with Young Socrates to tackle a harder question: how do we recognize the genuine statesman amid the crowd of claimants, advisers, demagogues, and would-be rulers? Using a rigorous method of classification, the Stranger tries to separate the real art of statesmanship from related practices like generalship, judging, and lawmaking. Along the way, the dialogue tests whether a city should be governed by fixed laws or by a wise expert able to respond to changing circumstances, and it examines how authority can be justified without collapsing into tyranny or mere popularity. A striking myth about cosmic cycles expands the inquiry beyond everyday politics, while an unexpected image - leadership as a kind of weaving - reframes ruling as the patient joining of different temperaments into a coherent civic fabric. Both intellectually demanding and vividly imaginative, Statesman probes the ethics, limits, and responsibilities of power.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:58:50) Chapter 02

(01:53:41) Chapter 03

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Sophist by Plato ~ Full Audiobook [philosophy] Jun 24, 2024

Show notes

Sophist by Plato audiobook.

Genre: philosophy

In Sophist, Plato presents a gripping philosophical inquiry staged as a rigorous conversation in Athens. After a brief opening with Socrates, the discussion is led by an enigmatic Stranger from Elea, who joins the young mathematician Theaetetus to tackle a deceptively simple challenge: what exactly is a sophist? The question quickly expands beyond social labels into a deep investigation of how definitions work, how we carve reality into kinds, and how persuasive speech can imitate knowledge. Using a careful step-by-step method of division, the Stranger tests candidate descriptions of the sophist as hunter, merchant, educator, debater, and finally as a maker of appearances. Along the way, the dialogue confronts a thorny problem that sits at the heart of deception: how can falsehood, contradiction, or saying what is not be possible at all? To answer, Plato explores the relationships among fundamental categories like being, difference, and likeness, showing how language, thought, and reality interlock. Sophist is both an intellectual detective story and a timeless warning about the power of rhetoric without truth.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:46:55) Chapter 02

(01:45:24) Chapter 03

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Protagoras by Plato ~ Full Audiobook [philosophy] Jun 22, 2024

Show notes

Protagoras by Plato audiobook.

Genre: philosophy

In Plato's Protagoras, a young and ambitious Athenian named Hippocrates rushes to Socrates with exciting news: the celebrated sophist Protagoras has arrived in town, and Hippocrates wants to become his student. Socrates agrees to accompany him, but only after pressing a hard question: what exactly will Hippocrates be learning, and will it truly make him better? At the house where Protagoras is staying, Socrates enters a crowded salon of famous thinkers and eager followers, and a public contest of ideas begins. The conversation turns to a bold promise at the center of sophistic education: can virtue be taught? Protagoras defends the practical art of forming capable citizens through instruction, culture, and argument, while Socrates probes definitions, exposes hidden assumptions, and tests whether the virtues are many separate qualities or one unified knowledge. Through lively speeches, sharp cross-examinations, and frequent shifts in strategy, the dialogue explores education, moral responsibility, rhetoric, and what it means to live well in a democratic city. The result is an intellectually dramatic encounter that challenges listeners to examine how persuasion, wisdom, and character truly connect.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:37:46) Chapter 02

(01:12:31) Chapter 03

(01:50:00) Chapter 04

(02:32:10) Chapter 05

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Philebus by Plato ~ Full Audiobook [philosophy] Jun 17, 2024

Show notes

Philebus by Plato audiobook.

Genre: philosophy

In Philebus, Plato stages a rigorous, surprisingly lively debate about the question that sits behind every choice: what makes a human life good. Socrates meets the confident young Protarchus, who has taken up the argument on behalf of Philebus that pleasure is the highest good. Socrates counters that intelligence, understanding, and the disciplined pursuit of truth deserve first place. As the conversation tightens, the dialogue moves beyond simple slogans and into careful distinctions: which pleasures are genuine and which are mixed with pain, how desire can mislead, and why some experiences feel sweet while leaving the soul disordered. To test their claims, Socrates introduces a bold framework for analyzing reality itself - the limitless and the limited, their mixture, and the cause that orders them - then applies it to the messier world of ethics. The dispute becomes a search for balance, asking whether the best life might be a measured blend of thought and enjoyment, and what standards can rank competing goods. Philosophical and practical at once, Philebus invites listeners into a searching inquiry about moderation, clarity, and the architecture of happiness.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:48:41) Chapter 02

(01:42:40) Chapter 03

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Phaedrus by Plato ~ Full Audiobook [philosophy] Jun 15, 2024

Show notes

Phaedrus by Plato audiobook.

Genre: philosophy

In Plato's Phaedrus, Socrates leaves the bustle of Athens for a walk outside the city walls with Phaedrus, a young admirer of speeches and a keen listener for the newest ideas. Beneath the shade of plane trees, their conversation begins with a provocative question about love and quickly expands into a far-reaching examination of the human soul. Through a sequence of vivid arguments and memorable images, Socrates challenges Phaedrus to consider whether persuasion is merely a technique for winning, or a craft that must be guided by truth and knowledge of the listener's character. The dialogue moves between the intoxicating pull of desire, the responsibilities of a lover and a teacher, and the nature of inspiration, including the unsettling possibility that some forms of madness can be gifts rather than defects. As the two men weigh the power of speeches, they also confront a deeper concern: what it means to learn, to remember, and to care for wisdom in a world that increasingly trusts words on a page. Elegant, playful, and demanding, Phaedrus explores love, rhetoric, ethics, and the pursuit of genuine understanding.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:13:32) Chapter 02

(00:28:30) Chapter 03

(00:44:48) Chapter 04

(01:00:27) Chapter 05

(01:14:03) Chapter 06

(01:33:24) Chapter 07

(01:56:33) Chapter 08

(02:15:50) Chapter 09

(02:28:01) Chapter 10

(02:46:40) Chapter 11

(03:00:21) Chapter 12

(03:11:18) Chapter 13

(03:23:09) Chapter 14

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Laches by Plato ~ Full Audiobook [philosophy] Jun 14, 2024

Show notes

Laches by Plato audiobook.

Genre: philosophy

Plato's Laches is a vivid philosophical drama that drops you into an Athenian courtyard where fathers worry about their sons' education and the meaning of virtue. When the question arises whether a young man should be trained in armed combat, two respected generals, Laches and Nicias, are asked to advise. Their disagreement draws in Socrates, whose relentless, good-humored questioning turns a practical debate about schooling into a searching inquiry: what is courage? As the conversation unfolds, definitions are offered, tested, and revised, revealing how easy it is to praise bravery in war yet how hard it is to explain courage as a stable quality of the soul. With Socrates guiding the group through examples, counterexamples, and uncomfortable admissions of uncertainty, the dialogue becomes a portrait of intellectual integrity and moral seriousness. Laches explores the tension between reputation and real wisdom, the responsibilities of parents and leaders, and the challenge of educating character rather than merely teaching skills. By the end, the characters confront not only the limits of their knowledge, but also the urgent need to keep examining how to live well.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

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Ion by Plato ~ Full Audiobook [philosophy] Jun 08, 2024

Show notes

Ion by Plato audiobook.

Genre: philosophy

In Ion, Plato stages a sharp and surprisingly playful conversation between Socrates and Ion, a celebrated rhapsode who earns his living performing and interpreting Homer for public audiences. Fresh from a competition victory, Ion claims special expertise in explaining what Homer means about war, leadership, medicine, seamanship, and the gods. Socrates, never satisfied with prestige alone, presses him to define what kind of knowledge his art really provides. Is rhapsodic mastery a teachable craft with clear principles, like navigation or medicine, or does it arise from something less predictable - a contagious force of inspiration that moves from poet to performer to listener? As Ion struggles to defend his authority, Socrates tests the boundaries between skill and enthusiasm, interpretation and possession, criticism and performance. Along the way, Plato offers a compact but far-reaching meditation on creativity, the social power of art, and the uneasy relationship between poetry and truth. Written as a fast-paced dialogue, Ion invites listeners to consider whether great art comes from disciplined understanding or from a kind of divine spark that cannot be fully controlled.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 0

(00:11:40) Chapter 1

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Gorgias by Plato ~ Full Audiobook [philosophy] Jun 07, 2024

Show notes

Gorgias by Plato audiobook.

Genre: philosophy

In Plato's Gorgias, a late-night conversation in Athens turns into a fierce trial of what it means to live well. Socrates meets the celebrated rhetorician Gorgias and his ambitious students, Polus and Callicles, and presses a deceptively simple question: is persuasive speaking a genuine craft that improves the soul, or merely a knack for winning crowds? As the debate intensifies, Socrates challenges the idea that power is measured by getting what you want, arguing instead that unchecked desire and public applause can hide a deeper kind of harm. His opponents defend rhetoric as the practical path to influence, pleasure, and political success, insisting that conventional morality is for the weak and that the strong should rule. Moving from sharp definitions to moral provocation, the dialogue examines justice, punishment, self-control, and the responsibilities of citizens and leaders. With relentless cross-examination and vivid examples, Socrates forces each speaker - and the listener - to confront whether a life devoted to winning is compatible with a life devoted to goodness.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:34:36) Chapter 2

(01:19:12) Chapter 3

(02:05:15) Chapter 4

(02:53:50) Chapter 5

(03:28:32) Chapter 6

(04:06:25) Chapter 7

(04:46:23) Chapter 8

(05:28:14) Chapter 9

(06:03:14) Chapter 10

(06:36:34) Chapter 11

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Euthydemus by Plato ~ Full Audiobook [philosophy] Jun 06, 2024

Show notes

Euthydemus by Plato audiobook.

Genre: philosophy

In Plato's Euthydemus, Socrates recounts to his friend Crito a memorable encounter at the Lyceum, where two celebrated brothers, Euthydemus and Dionysodorus, promise to teach virtue and wisdom. Their method, however, is less instruction than combat: rapid-fire questions, verbal traps, and dazzling contradictions designed to win applause. Caught between admiration and confusion is Cleinias, an earnest young nobleman whose education is at stake, along with a circle of onlookers eager for entertainment. Socrates steps into the fray with his usual patience and irony, testing what it really means to learn, to argue well, and to care for the soul. As the brothers' cleverness escalates, the dialogue becomes a lively examination of the difference between genuine philosophy and showy disputation, and of how a teacher should guide a student toward virtue rather than victory. By turns funny, pointed, and unsettling, Euthydemus challenges listeners to ask whether reasoning is a tool for truth or merely a weapon for winning.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:49:56) Chapter 02

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