WRP2023#10 - 13 June 2024: Plato

Plato

In 399 BCE Socrates was tried, found guilty, and put to death.  Plato, who gave up political life and devoted the rest of his life to philosophy, wrote The Apology, some years after the death of Socrates. Socrates, in his defence speech, addresses the Athenians repeatedly, as if trying to wake them from a sleep and urges them on to a better way of life. We, all generations, are Athenians and Plato’s message, spoken by Socrates, is universal and timeless. We will read and study the dialogue in groups; both first-time readers and the more experienced will find that there is much to be discovered and much that is mysterious in this text.