Faculty Conversations: Ben Storey on Plato’s Gorgias

Ben Storey, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, leads one section of our opening week of the #PoliticalStudiesProgram, in which our fellows study Plato’s Gorgias.

All Western philosophy is said to be a “series of footnotes to Plato.” For the inaugural week of the Political Studies Program, fellows will be divided into two seminars, both devoted to close reading of the Gorgias. Young people with ambitions often want to lead politically successful lives that are also morally serious lives. Is this possible? Can we both do well and be good? Or do the demands of political life, the needs of the community, and the dilemmas of leadership make ordinary morality impossible for those who seek power and influence? We will reflect on the ethical dilemmas implied by the pursuit of power, in politics and other realms, and on how we should conduct ourselves in a world in which the demands of justice and the demands of political necessity often seem to conflict. —

CONTENTS OF THIS VIDEO

00:00 – Introduction

00:12 – What makes a great Hertog fellow?

00:59 – Comparing the Political Studies Program with Humanities at Hertog

02:46 – Why begin with Gorgias?

03:52 – How do Hertog’s programs fit into the landscape of higher education?

05:07 – How does your work at AEI inform your Hertog teaching?

07:03 – What in Gorgias do you hope to talk about this week?