Lifestyle & Culture Lectures
The Lifestyle & Culture Lecture Series presents unique and exciting talks that explore issues of health and well-being, the arts and society, and the quest for happiness and self-knowledge.
The Series is an initiative of a group of students from the School of Philosophy, with the aim of sharing some of the wonderful topics explored in the School with a wider audience, and to introduce high-quality speakers from Australia and abroad who inspire audiences with their passion and experience.
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Plato’s Five Forms of Government
By Mr David Horan
The next Lifestyle & Culture lecture will focus on the five forms of government, as presented by the Greek philosopher Plato in his seminal work, the Republic, books 8 and 9.
Presenter David Horan warns that this will be a dramatic talk! Plato does not pull any punches in his examination of the various possible forms of government and their relative merits. Democracy itself comes heavily under fire. The ‘bottom line’ is that greed and desire lead us towards tyranny and enslavement, while truth and justice lead us towards liberation at both the personal and political level.
David Horan presented From Heaven to Earth: Plato’s Philosophy and the World We Live In last January, and this next lecture proves to be just as insightful, engaging and challenging!
About the Presenter
David Horan is a senior member of the Dublin School of Philosophy, and, in conjunction with the Dublin School of Philosophy and the Irish universities, he has organized the public “Day With Plato” event for the past 21 years, introducing thousands of people to the works of Plato. He has produced dramatisations of the dialogues of Plato each year for this event and more recently has produced three film versions of Plato’s dialogues. He has run Plato Study Weeks since 2004 with the Dublin School in Ireland and in Italy and has facilitated four Plato Summer Schools in Melbourne. He has lectured extensively on the dialogues of Plato and has conducted study days and weekends on Plato in England and Holland. With his wife Frances he has been conducting group tours to Greece for 12 years, combining the study of Plato with visits to the sites of the ancient world. This year he led a two-week seminar on Plato’s Timaeus at the European Cultural Centre in Delphi, Greece.
David is currently producing a new translation of the entire dialogues of Plato—a substantial project that began in 2008 and will run for some 10 years. Apart from the translation work, his current research interest is self-knowledge in the dialogues of Plato. This work is being conducted at the Centre for the Study of the Platonic Tradition in Trinity College, Dublin.
Event Details
Sunday, January 3rd @ 5.00 pm
Cost: $20.00
Location: Fairfield Amphitheatre
(MELWAY ref: Map 30, J12)
Bookings
To book online, visit the Lifestyle and Culture Lectures website, or leave a telephone message on (03) 9815 1496 (24 Hours).
Website
The Lifestyle & Culture Lecture Series has its own website!
Visit the website to book online, to ask a question, or to find out more about upcoming and past lectures—including feedback, transcripts and other useful downloads.