Given his views on humanity and our capacity to understand, this second talk on the influences of Plato will look at the territory he covered concerning high-level and generalised theories about reality, and his views of the cosmos and the familiar world of appearances.
In the latter case it is essential to recognise that he lacked a modern scientific understanding of nature. In particular, he had no telescope, no microscope, and no controlled conditions experiments. This does not prevent his speculations from still having great interest. His famous commitment to a realm of abstractions and ideals will be tracked in the modern philosophies of science, language and mathematics, and in current metaphysics.
We will also look at modern ‘footnotes’ which are spurred by a direct hostility to Plato. The main texts will be Republic, Timaeus and Parmenides.
Note: please print the supporting material which will be referred to throughout the presentation.