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Back to Reason and Persuasion: Thinking Through Three Dialogues By Plato

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Reason and Persuasion: Thinking Through Three Dialogues By Plato by National University of Singapore

4.4
stars
324 ratings

About the Course

In this course we study the ancient, Socratic art of blowing up your beliefs as you go, to make sure they're built to last. We spend six weeks studying three Platonic dialogues - "Euthyphro", "Meno", "Republic" Book I - then two weeks pondering a pair of footnotes to Plato: contemporary moral theory and moral psychology. Platonic? Socratic? Socrates was the teacher, but he said he never did. Plato was the student who put words in his teacher's mouth. You'll get a feel for it. We have a book: the new 4th edition of "Reason and Persuasion", by the instructor (and his wife, Belle Waring, the translator.) It contains the Plato you need, plus introductory material and in-depth, chapter-length commentaries. (Don't worry! John Holbo knows better than to read his book to the camera. The videos cover the same material, but the presentation is different.) The book is offered free in PDF form - the whole thing, and individual chapter slices. It is also available in print and other e-editions. See the course content for links and information. The course is suitable for beginning students of Plato and philosophy, but is intended to offer something to more advanced students as well. We seek new, odd angles on old, basic angles. Tricky! The strategy is to make a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary approach. Lots of contemporary connections, to make the weird bits intuitive; plus plenty of ancient color, still bright after all these years. So: arguments and ideas, new possibilities, old stories, fun facts. Plus cartoons. The results can get elaborate (some book chapters and some lesson videos run long.) But each video comes with a brief summary of its contents. The lessons progress. I put them in this order for reasons. But there's no reason you can't skip over and around to find whatever seems most interesting. There are any number of self-contained mini-courses contained in this 8-week course. You are welcome to them. Plato has meant different things to different people. He's got his own ideas, no doubt. (Also, his own Ideas.) But these have, over the centuries, been worn into crossing paths for other feet; been built up into new platforms for projecting other voices. (Plato did it to Socrates, so fair is fair.) So your learning outcome should be: arrival somewhere interesting, in your head, where you haven't been before. I wouldn't presume to dictate more exactly....

Top reviews

SS

Feb 2, 2017

Very interesting. The questions were rather challenging. The book clarifies a lot, and porf. Holbroke has a nice way of teaching. The videos were rather enticing and very informative.

JR

Oct 27, 2016

I wish the course was longer! The Professor did a fantastic job of making the content fascinating and engaging. Please please please make another MOOC!

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51 - 75 of 91 Reviews for Reason and Persuasion: Thinking Through Three Dialogues By Plato

By Michael E

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Jun 11, 2016

Lecturer is actually socrates

By rosario r c

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Nov 18, 2019

Very interesting. Thank you.

By Tim B

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Mar 31, 2020

learned a lot abouit Plato

By Lucy

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Feb 13, 2016

Extremely funny and witty.

By kobie l

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May 6, 2017

Teaches how to think

By Roberto R

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Aug 16, 2017

wonderfuff, thanks

By ELMER M P

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Aug 31, 2022

All excelen jobs

By N R S

•

Dec 7, 2023

Great Lectures

By ebru a

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Oct 10, 2022

thanks greatj

By Kleber L d S

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May 20, 2020

Ótimo.

By Chintan P

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Mar 15, 2023

Great

By Pallapothu V S

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May 31, 2020

Nice

By Wesley D S

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Mar 13, 2017

Lot to learn about Plato, same with the other course I'm taking On Plato which was great. I wish the instructor, no offense, taught more and told jokes less. I get what he was trying to do I think, but it made it seem like the vids were for starters and then you had hard tests that he didn't prepare you for in the videos. Much easier that I had already read much of Plato and then could read the excerpts for the test or I would have had a real difficult time getting through this course. It was difficult because you had to do a lot of the reading and sometimes it wasn't clear what answers where expected from the reading, perhaps my reading comprehension isn't as good as it should be. It was still a good challenging course though. I could respectfully disagree with how the material was presented though. Hopefully I can find time to join forums and get more out of it as I've finished the class before the class has officially started.

By Charles A M

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Nov 22, 2016

I was blown away by Professor Holbo's content, use of the Coursera tools, and the fusion of Plato' s and more modern thinkers' philosophies. For the course itself, I would give more than five stars if it could. I gave 4 stars because it was very difficult to engage in a substantial discussion concerning the concepts.

I hope to have the opportunity to take other courses created by Professor Holbo in the future.

By Beatriz F J

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Mar 27, 2023

Me ha resultado muy interesante tanto por los contenidos como por la forma de exponerlos y hacerte reflexionar sobre ellos. Creo que es una buena forma de aprender filosofía y reciclar conocimientos pasados que está bien tener siempre presentes. Muchas gracias por habérnoslo hecho llegar. Espero que haya muchos más como este.

By Wendie K

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Sep 16, 2016

John Holbo is a very good narrator, I liked his book and videos very much. He made it more easy to get through the material, which sometimes is challenging (especially if english is not your native tongue)

By ANDRES R P D

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Feb 8, 2018

Original technique for teaching and deep capacity to search, find and expose essence of such complex matter as are this Dialogues By Plato. Funny lecture stile without loosing academy rigor.

By Paula H

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Oct 3, 2018

I learned that you don't want to have a discussion with Socrates. He will talk you in circles and give you a headache. Good class. Breaks down fairly dense reading into manageable chunks.

By DJ

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Jun 28, 2018

Jon Holbo was an amazing lecturer. He kept me engaged and curious throughout each week!

By Pramila K

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Jul 9, 2020

Course content is good. I have completed the course,please provide a certificate

By Wilfredo E

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Apr 21, 2019

Great course but I didn't have time to complete.

By Jonathan J

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Apr 7, 2021

Mindwracking experience and very nice readings.

By Bebin J

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Apr 14, 2021

Taught me how to think

By adeshina A

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Sep 23, 2021

It was great!

By Benjamin A O

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Dec 1, 2017

c'était cool