The essay “Philosophy & Politics” was written by Hannah Arendt in 1954. It underwent a name change to “Socrates” and was eventually published as the first part of the posthumous “The Promise of Politics” in 2007.

The essay argues that a huge cultural shift occurred when Plato, distraught over his teacher’s trial and death, turned his back on the polis and developed a notion of “Truth” that would forever cleave philosophy and politics in two. Arendt returns to the “pre-Platonic” philosophy-politics of Socrates to rediscover the links, even the identity, between the two domains.

To find out more about this important essay, read Justin Richard’s excellent two part series exploring it at length: A Tale of Two Socrates (Part One), (Part Two).

Credits: Video editing and Soundtrack by John Brady.