I look forward to your posts on this controversy. I've been aware of it for some time, but I've been reluctant to side with either perspective; I remain agnostic regarding secret or esoteric teachings. In some ways I think there are simpler explanations such as Plato gathering advanced students to discuss certain topics in an informal way rather than a structured esoteric way. // From another direction, I see the Enneads of Plotinus as very helpful on the issue of the Good, the One, and their relationship. Plotinus thought of himself as a traditional Platonist and I find his writings very clarifying on issues like this. Thanks for taking the time to post videos on this topic.
Thanks very much--glad you enjoyed the video! I think my own views are quite similar. I lean toward the Tubingen interpretation (though one thing I didn't say in this video is that it would be more correct, probably, to say Tubingen interpretations as they're not uniform between scholars and also changed over time). I can't help but feel Plato is holding a lot back in his dialogues and various signs point to it being an idea of the good as the one. On the other hand, I'm not convinced this teaching was actually secret (this, I understand, is something Kramer changed his opinion on). Finally, I think to some extent the whole debate may be something of a red herring anyway, for reasons I'll get into later in this series.
I look forward to your posts on this controversy. I've been aware of it for some time, but I've been reluctant to side with either perspective; I remain agnostic regarding secret or esoteric teachings. In some ways I think there are simpler explanations such as Plato gathering advanced students to discuss certain topics in an informal way rather than a structured esoteric way. // From another direction, I see the Enneads of Plotinus as very helpful on the issue of the Good, the One, and their relationship. Plotinus thought of himself as a traditional Platonist and I find his writings very clarifying on issues like this. Thanks for taking the time to post videos on this topic.
Thanks very much--glad you enjoyed the video! I think my own views are quite similar. I lean toward the Tubingen interpretation (though one thing I didn't say in this video is that it would be more correct, probably, to say Tubingen interpretations as they're not uniform between scholars and also changed over time). I can't help but feel Plato is holding a lot back in his dialogues and various signs point to it being an idea of the good as the one. On the other hand, I'm not convinced this teaching was actually secret (this, I understand, is something Kramer changed his opinion on). Finally, I think to some extent the whole debate may be something of a red herring anyway, for reasons I'll get into later in this series.