At the beginning of one of Plato’s dialogues, its namesake, Phaedrus, lures Socrates outside of the city with the claim that he will try to recount, in his own words, a speech he has just heard from Lysias – a... Continue Reading →
In the middle of Plato's dialogue the Symposium, Aristophanes follows several others, all of whom have been tasked with giving speeches on love or eros. Aristophanes prefaces his speech, once his hiccups have subsided, by saying that he will speak in... Continue Reading →
Left to my own devices at lunch time, I set a spoon on fire while making soup. Rather than panicking, I efficiently dunked the spoon in the soup and stirred. And now I have a master chef tip for improving... Continue Reading →
Springbank Park, LondonThe novel Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper is a story about both losing and recollecting yourself in the love and life of another. Set 60 odd years after the Second World War, the... Continue Reading →
Stop me if you've heard this one. An Athenian, a Spartan and a Cretan walk into Hades.... The Laws, while ostensibly about the creation of a perfect city, like Plato's other dialogues, it is also about the desire for wisdom,... Continue Reading →
In the Republic, Plato argues that an education in poetry or art more broadly understood is essential to the education of children. In one of my favourite passages, he says that we must "seek out craftsmen who are by nature... Continue Reading →
The image we get from Plato's dialogues of his teacher, Socrates, is strange and often startling. He wanders around Athens speaking to everyone, bothering most people, rarely taking the hint. He is generally barefoot and goes without bathing such that... Continue Reading →
I have a terrible memory for some things. I can watch whole movies without remembering that I have already seen them. I don't remember the names of causal acquaintances, and lots of times I can't remember the names of my immediate... Continue Reading →
When I was a kid, I used to love to climb a particular tree in my backyard and lose myself in a book. That is until we discovered that I was allergic to said tree and no longer allowed to... Continue Reading →
