philosopher avecdominique paganiPaths ofPraxis
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Socrate

5th-century BCE Greek philosopher · 470–399 BC

Appears in 131 videos · 228 passages, 106 of them in depth.

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What Dominique Pagani says

Dominique Pagani calls Socrates "our patron", the figure with whom philosophy in the strict sense begins. He credits him with a decisive question, "what do you call…?", which comes before "what is it?": at the foot of the ziggurat, Socrates questions the astronomer rather than the sun, and so one moves from monologue to dialogue12. He links this gesture to the crisis of the city and to a margin of democratic freedom, unthinkable under the pharaoh34. Socrates appears as a night watchman put to death for waking Athens; this scandal turns Plato toward philosophy, which "limps" from the outset56. Pagani reads closely the Gorgias, where Socrates confronts Callicles, whom he fails to convince, and the Phaedo, where he refuses to escape out of respect for the law of the city78. He often returns to maieutics, the Delphic "know thyself", the torpedo fish and the dream commanding him to make music. He specifies that he speaks only of Plato's Socrates.

  1. 1Hegel Plage 1/51 Feb 2016 · 1:04:48
  2. 2Clouscard et le problème de Socrate14 Oct 2022 · 1:37:01
  3. 3#1.8 Entre crise et guerre : Philosopher ?28 Jan 2016 · 20:01
  4. 4Hommage à Domenico Losurdo2 Jul 2018 · 56:36
  5. 5Keller (Helen)15 Feb 2016 · 8:29
  6. 69 #11 Comment des sciences de l'histoire peuvent-elles être réelles?7 Jan 2021 · 1:09:06
  7. 7Musicosophie 15. Platon, Rouseau, Hegel et la musique9 Feb 2021 · 13:27
  8. 8#8 Philosopher sous la menace27 Jan 2022 · 44:51

Summary produced automatically from 150 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.

Portrait: SocrateWho is this?

Socrates (; Ancient Greek: Σωκράτης, romanized: Sōkrátēs; c. 470 – 399 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher from Classical Athens, perhaps the first Western moral philosopher, and a major inspiration on his student Plato, who largely founded the tradition of Western philosophy. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no texts and is known mainly through the posthumous accounts of classical writers, particularly his students Plato and Xenophon. […]

Read the article on Wikipedia

Text: Wikipédia, CC BY-SA 4.0, excerpt · Portrait: Copy of Lysippos (?), Public domain

Talks · 14 Jul 2022From Plato to world revolution, by Dominique Pagani
  1. 0:29Wrote nothing; it is Plato who makes him speak.
  2. 8:26Says he never involved himself in public affairs, yet constitutes an absolute beginning, hence a revolution.
  3. 13:12Brought philosophy down from the sky to the earth, from the true and the false toward the question "what must I do?"; refuses to escape.
  4. 19:52Replaces "what is?" with "what do you call?" and shows Meletus that he contradicts himself.
  5. 30:34His maieutics, free of charge, helps the other give birth to the knowledge he already has within him.
Season 2 · 15 Feb 2016#2.1 Between crisis and war: Philosophising?
  1. 8:29Put to death by the city for his questioning; compared to the night watchman who wakes the city in crisis.
  2. 23:49He was right to wake Athens, threatened by Macedonia; he understands that the city's sickness is expressed in its words.
  3. 31:35His fundamental question is not "what is it?" but "what do you call?"
  4. 1:13:48In the Phaedo, his disciples ask him for the demonstration of the immortality of the soul at the moment of his death.
Season 1 · 14 Sept 2015#1.2 Between crisis and war: Philosophising?
  1. 3:04The Socratic question arises at the moment when the city is in crisis facing Macedonia and then Rome.
  2. 18:04He questions the questioner and not the thing: "what do you call the sun?".
  3. 22:09His conflict to the death with the sophists, for whom truth does not matter.
  4. 47:13He is glad to have found in Callicles a frank opponent and shows that his notion of force is vague.
Season 9.2 · 4 Mar 20219 #16 How can sciences of history be real?
  1. 14:00He initiates philosophy with the question "what do you call...?", asked for example of the sculptor about beauty.
  2. 33:53He does not concern himself with the sky or nature; he brings philosophy down from the sky to the earth.
  3. 42:12He addresses the "someones" of the city in order to establish a dialogue from which dialectic emerges.
  4. 1:31:29He did not consider it useless to think about the sky: it simply was not the philosopher's job.
Season 2 · 1 Aug 2017#2.8 Between crisis and war: Philosophising?
  1. 2:11Patron of philosophy, he did not write, did not teach in state chairs, and addressed the citizen in the agora.
  2. 10:26He recalls that saying "it's beautiful" means "I like it," hence that a desire is satisfied.
  3. 20:45At the foot of the ziggurat, he asks the astrologer what he calls the sun: someone addresses someone.
  4. 35:43Recalls the inscription at Delphi "Know thyself."
Season 2 · 1 Aug 2017#2.7 Between crisis and war: Philosophising?
  1. 10:43Condemned for teaching people no longer to believe in the gods.
  2. 29:12Inaugurates the question "what do you call...?", which concerns words and not things.
  3. 36:24He sows discord by questioning what binds the city together; the accusation is unfounded in law but not false.
  4. 53:43His patron is the oracle at Delphi and its "know thyself."
  5. 1:05:00His question could not have been asked under the pharaoh.
Series · 7 Jan 2015X for Xanthippe
  1. 1:54Said to have chosen Xanthippe for her bad temper, in order to exercise his patience.
  2. 4:32Says no to Alcibiades, the most beautiful man in Athens, and thereby refuses class domination.

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