Townsend Lecture I. The Dynamic Structure of Understanding in Plato

About this event

Taking its starting point from lived experiences of understanding again, this lecture explores the temporal dimension of epistēmē in Plato. I argue that for Plato understanding is not simply a stable possession: it can weaken, become obscured, or be lost, but it can also be renewed and deepened. Moreover, just as individual human beings can forget why a belief they hold is true, and should therefore care for maintaining their understanding, so also political communities can lose their understanding why their laws are good and just, and should therefore have institutions that can guarantee the maintenance and renewal of understanding. Reception to follow. Townsend Lecture II. Meletē and the Good Life in the Phaedo Townsend Lecture III. The Resilience of the Wisdom of the Stoic Sage