An Intro to Philosophy w/ Dr. Alex Plato

[@mk14ist]

Not a Christian but somehow I keep coming back to this channel, such a lovely host

[@pattiday431]

@MK 96 What's stopping you?

[@mk14ist]

@@pattiday431well I wasn't raised Christian so I don't 'belief' like I suppose you do. The burden of proof isn't met for me: a big concept like God requires pretty solid evidence and I haven't seen that (yet). I do want to see that, I would like to fall into faith but so far it hasn't happened yet Last, some teachings of conservative churches I take issue with. My brother is trans, and I see he is far happier after coming out. I feel reluctant joining a church that wouldn't support that part of my brother. Good day to you kind sir!

[@mrQueven13]

Im glad you’re open to listening- hope some day you find what your looking for

[@kingofcelts]

Come on in my friend, the waters not perfect. But if you want truth, look at the Catholic Church... peace

[@Southernromanist]

Keep on keepin on

[@BobbyHernandez]

Dr Plato the philosophy professor. Unbelievable honestly

[@joelmontero9439]

I bet he has an student called Aristotle

[@nardoritardeau2291]

"We're not actually thinking, some one else is." I cant wait to parrot this tbh

[@WhosInABunker94]

I could listen to Dr. Plato for days, amazing episode. Probably my favourite yet.

[@pintswithaquinas]

Yeah, me too!

[@KM-ec2qv]

@@pintswithaquinas This is blasphemy against the GOAT Sr. Miriam

[@devinporter532]

@@KM-ec2qv or Christopher West, or Fr. Kilcawley in my opinion

[@williammanhire4424]

@@pintswithaquinasOne of the best episodes. Please have him on again!

[@domineprinceps]

I agree. This is my favorite episode.

[@stephencotter538]

💥🙉 This conversation is gold! It will probably take me 12 hours to listen to the whole thing. I keep pausing, re-winding, and playing again. Well done sirs! I'm only at 46 minutes, and I have been playing this for the past couple days (whenever i get a moment free from my bride, kids, prayer, Mass, Scripture, and work). Love it, thank you for sharing. #staygold

[@bv5278]

This is pure gold! It is exactly what I see in public and with conversations with others. God Bless and Praise God for wisdom

[@thomasjohnson8412]

Cracking stream. Dr Plato was tremendous in his own right, but I also really liked the new format of having an extra person at the table.

[@pintswithaquinas]

Thanks so much, Thomas!

[@samuelhucko4127]

Especially when that extra person is Jacob Imam.

[@AthanaSus]

profound realization of the fact that i dont think or discuss anymore. i just look it up the internet and voila. I thank God my search in the internet has led me to great YT channels like yours matt. God bless

[@wishIwuzskiing]

This felt like an intellectual, thinking, pondering, buffet as compared to the bland diet of empty carbs of todays cultural discourse that presents itself as deep thought. Thank you!!!

[@jenniferwhite546]

It's 1:45am in the morning here in the UK and I am 36 minutes into this podcast. Just wow, such an amazing conversation. Probably one of the best podcasts I have listened to for a long time. Thank you so much and God bless you all.

[@Southernromanist]

Love the intro to Dr. Plato. I think he’s gonna really rise up in the Catholic world

[@jack_skeean]

Having Jacob in on these conversations is a great addition!

[@bweatherman3345]

Definitely

[@samuelhucko4127]

Exactly

[@EliteTrainingForBasketball]

He needs to bring a bottle of EHT or blantons back, like the whiskey episode. Or bring me on and I'll bring the high quality bourbon. :)

[@davidtavares1868]

Normally I listen to podcasts at 1.25x or 1.5x - This was such a joy to listen to at 1x

[@RevolutionDrummer47]

I loved this video. I did my undergrad in philosophy and Catholic studies, and it was so intriguing. People see philosophy as boring and unnecessary, but conversations like this one need to happen.

[@sarahburke8955]

I just want to thank y'all for making philosophy so accessible. This conversation was thought provoking and insightful without getting into the weeds of philosophical language that I don't have a grasp on yet. Dr. Plato is a gift, as is Jacob Imam, who I so thoroughly enjoyed on your previous episode!

[@teknatheou]

Great conversation. My favorite on the channel so far.

[@amandagauthier-parker1399]

I'm feeling really grateful for my education as a classical homeschooling parent right now, because I can follow much of this, even if I can't repeat any of it. 😆 #receptivefemale

[@anthonytassinari939]

Amanda when I was in college one of my science professor told us the story: he said he asked his professor a question. Professor why is it when I sit in a lecture about Einstein‘s theory of relativity I can understand everything but when I leave I can’t? Professors looked at him and said it’s the same way with us

[@katherinebrumley7794]

I, too, was a classical homeschooling parent. Now I teach college mathematics. I love this. And I will rewatch with a notebook, next time. :)

[@TeaHeart22]

Ive been *very slowly and painfully* reading the trivium and it's slowly undoing all my public schooling but MAN is it in there! Sometimes I don't even notice it and my homeschooled hubby will point it out that I'm trapped in another postmodernist lie and I am thankful whenever I'm freed from one of those. It really makes ones head a nightmare of despair

[@edwardm9177]

@@TeaHeart22the Trivium by Sister Miriam? how are you finding it? do you think you'd be able to teach it to your children just after reading it? God bless

[@MariaPerez-uv8mm]

Same here 🙂

[@Big_Steve11]

PLEASE PLEASE have Dr.Plato on again

[@TheBepax]

Dr. Plato is a great blessing.

[@PatrickSteil]

I never heard the fact that Faith and Reason were always taught together and then we decided to split them apart. No wonder!!!!

[@taffielewis815]

Officially my favorite episode, among so many excellent ones. As a Catholic high school theology teacher, this was incredibly informative and captivating, and also useful. Bring (Dr.) Plato back! I’d love to hear more about the specifically Franciscan strand of Catholic philosophy.

[@jennbull0247]

I am a homeschool mom with a son who is about to start 6th grade next year and I have been searching and searching the internet for some sort of program where my son can continue his studies, but with intellectual Catholic men online (an online school etc.). But have come up empty. Now during this conversation I see what I am looking for! Catholics need classical education for their children. And because most communities are starved this must transcend location and be found online. And to make it even greater, maybe end of school year conferences where the children can meet in person! ...Sorry, just brainstorming over here!

[@jennifer7648]

You might be just brainstorming, but your comment sure helped me! I have heard of classical education, but have no clue what it is. Can you please point me in the right direction to find out more?

[@nardoritardeau2291]

Better yet: Creating IRL Catholic communities so they CAN do in-person school, and homeschooling can be grouped as well. I pray my future children are raised around other Catholics, as I am the only one in my family.

[@FirstLast-bd3wn]

@@jennifer7648 Check out Seton Homeschool or Catholic Heritage

[@1970bosshemi]

Classical education is not for everyone. It is not at all a requirement to lead a good Catholic life either.

[@mattanderson7089]

Can you have Dr. Plato on every week? I’d like to hear more about his move from Evangelical to Anglican to Catholic.

[@sakura_daisuki]

YES!!

[@joneslt]

What a fantastic conversation. I wish I could sit in a room with these guys. It’s difficult to find people willing to go this deep down the rabbit hole. Awesome and insightful stuff

[@clive2296]

This show is getting even better.

[@pintswithaquinas]

Wow, thanks so much!

[@clive2296]

@@pintswithaquinas thanks for replying back 😃. I am waiting the day you have Jordan Peterson in the show. God bless you all involved with this show.

[@gwynhvar]

This is a download worthy episode to listen to time and again-many thanks

[@kiwicoproductions2828]

Wow. As a former FUS graduate, I remember when Dr Plato and Dr Gage came to Franciscan. While the department was very Hildebrandian at the time (the late author of Transformation in Christ), which wasn't a bad thing, up come these two analytic Wizzes from Baylor and St. Louis University respectively, who really, in my mind, helped energize an older department. I never had the chance to take Plato, but he was a super kind and knowledgeable man from my interactions with him. Fradd, you gotta have Dr Gage on next for sure!!! Cannot recommend him more!!!!

[@lindacollinson764]

3 hours! This isn't Pints with Aquinas, this is Kegs with Aquinas lol.

[@simonluzny2487]

Barrels even.

[@nardoritardeau2291]

You made me chuckle 🙂

[@HolyKhaaaaan]

He did four hours with Seamus Coughlin..

[@robertmeyers8138]

Awesome discussion, thank you.

[@rcabert70]

A truly tremendous conversation. Thank you!

[@pinknickelvidz]

Worthy of the time spent to record and to watch this discussion! Based on his studying great philosophers and theologians for many years, Fr. Robert Spitzer - S.J., Ph.D. - refined a model of the "Four Levels of Happiness". Spitzer suggests that "the level (of the Four Levels of Happiness) that is dominant in our individual lives will dictate our actions, choices, and ethics"

[@blueyedmule]

When I find myself standing amongst the thinking of Augustine, Aquinas, and Bonaventure, I take a line out of "O Brother Where Art Thou" and simply declare "I'm with you fellers!".

[@samfletcher1617]

This...was...amazing!!! We need more Dr. Plato on PWA!

[@pintswithaquinas]

agreed!

[@digitizedfirst1472]

Agree

[@sakura_daisuki]

Preach!!!

[@christianmondragon7006]

Can you list all books mentioned in this conversation? We need a Pints with Aquinas book list.

[@TeaHeart22]

I know he definitely listed a lot of C.S. Lewis works - specifically abolition of man (which I found packeged with the great divorce which is also excellent) and the weight of glory. The problem of pain is good and also related. But mere Christianity smacks them all. That's really his finest work in my opinion. (tho Narnia is great obv)

[@TeaHeart22]

Okay I also heard in reference to Franciscan thought Bonaventure and SCOTUS? Not sure how to spell Also heard Thomas Aquinas's Suma theologia He also mentioned the trivium and quadrivium - I'm currently reading the trivium to try and homeschool my kids (my in-laws used it so I'm blessed to have found it though them. It's hard but it's good) that's by sister Miriam Joseph

[@BonMotGuy]

There was also Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper

[@HannahRaff]

@@TeaHeart22 Scotus is John (I think) Duns Scotus - one of the Merton calculators (from Merton College at Oxford) during the Medieval period.

[@withnail-and-i]

@@HannahRaff I much prefer John Scottus Eriugena haha Duns Scot and his student Ockham abandoned the realism that went from Parmenides to Aquinas, through Plato, Aristotle and Plotinus, in favor of nominalism, which leads to nihilism, as being itself loses its divinity when universals become arbitrary. God goes from "all of being" to "a being", and that's where relativism creeps in, culminating in postmodernism.

[@rsmyth75]

I almost past this! O my God!!! What a revelation!!! I am blown away !!!

[@claritasyoutubechannel3312]

Fascinating episode, I remember having some conversations like this with my (Atheist, please pray for him) friend at high school; it’s a shame that I wasted a lot of time after that before finally reverting to the Catholic Faith, hopefully I’ll start having conversations like that sometime in the future.

[@TheRepublicanProfessor]

Good to see you, brother

[@DavidMatias79]

I don't believe I'm exaggerating when I say this is changing my life.

[@alisterrebelo9013]

Hi David, where has your journey led you?

[@battambangscooterandmotorc303]

Alright alright these guys are bright. What fun. Now I'm going on a tangent, to where I've know idea. Thank you boys for opening a few more doors. God bless.

[@caseypatterson297]

What a wonderful discussion!

[@chuanhiang]

Amazing discussion to say the least. Willing to believe in faith is key for me as I too wrestle with the many dogmas. It was very interesting for me that I decided to surrender in faith to Him. The intellect is to aid faith to gain footing but never to take over faith.

[@MsTree13]

Excellent show. Thank you

[@nono-bt8gy]

This episode is just awesome! Thank you so much.

[@johnnyGoosePGH]

PWA was made for this type of conversation. Absolutely amazing stuff

[@reginanoya-asa8918]

Beautiful, humanely perfectly presented....thank you very much for having taught us so much, watching from Indonesia

[@J_Chaucer]

I hope we have Peter kreeft come back on. His episodes are my favourite

[@thossi09]

Love to hear about Anscombe. I'd like to share a couple of stories I've heard about her (all from my former professor, Þorsteinn Gylfason). They came to Iceland to visit him (who is, I think, the only person who ever was a professor of philosophy at the University of Iceland who didn't have a PhD in philosophy). So he took them on a little tour of the country, seeing the main sights - and one of those main sights was the place where the last Catholic bishop in Iceland was executed (along with his two sons - apparently, the guy in charge gave the sentence with the words "The axe and the ground will best fit them"). Hearing this, Anscombe said "Peach (that was her nickname for Peter Geach), we must venerate!" During that same visit, Þorsteinn was in the process of buying an apartment. Somehow, he managed to misplace some important papers. Anscombe and Geach, that evening, decided to pray to St. Antonius (or is it Anthony? Maybe it's just different names in different languages). Sure enough, the next morning a woman called him, telling him she'd found some papers with his name at the local grocery store. The last story is about a time some sculptor was making a bust of Anscombe. Now, Ludwig Wittgenstein was present, and when the sculptor was done, Wittgenstein said "It's not symmetrical enough." The sculptor said "But no faces are symmetrical," to which Wittgenstein replied "Her face is." Then he brought up some callipers and demonstrated how Anscombe's face was actually very symmetrical.

[@_Eamon]

2:32:55 We have to assume the position of a martyr before ever deciding that others should be martyrs. Thank you Jacob

[@elitisthavoc3949]

We should be living our lives until death like Exodus 90.

[@pintswithaquinas]

Go for it ;)

[@jacobzanardi1930]

@@pintswithaquinas based

[@elitisthavoc3949]

We forge our vessels in Christ so we may be perfected in righteousness. “But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:33‬ ‭‬‬

[@autumnangel8004]

Love this already and only a few minutes in! 🌿

[@marilynmelzian7370]

I love Plato’s description of the quadrivium.

[@ricardom.6850]

So cool, right? I never heard it that way

[@johngrigorian4206]

Outstanding discussion. I greatly enjoyed it.

[@Wingedmagician]

I love this so much

[@ConnorPatrickNolan003]

It’s funny cause I have Dr Plato as my philosophy professor next semester haha

[@scroogemcduckismyspiritanimal]

@ConnorPatrickNolan003 how did the class go?

[@davekushner5340]

I love the point made on needing someone to do the thinking for you. That is the downfall of wisdom and learning. People don't read books especially if it is considered "dry" like Aquinas or Aristotle, because it takes a level of contemplation that is just not compatible with modern scholarship.

[@orthochristos]

Ok, Matt. When is Socrates Aristotle coming on the show?

[@joelmontero9439]

Cicero next😂

[@afranka87]

Always thought that philosophy is all about big brain works, and I don't have the capacity to chew it, but this podcast made it looks easier. great podcast 🙏

[@elitisthavoc3949]

Some are not gifted a great intellectual capacity but are gifted a great capacity to love, and that’s literally all that matters in life. “Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.” ‭‭1 John‬ ‭4:8‬ ‭‬‬

[@11antun]

brilliant! Thank you!

[@stephencuskley5251]

Thank you for a fantastic and very informative discussion. I admit that some of it blew by me too fast to quite follow, though I caught the gist of what you were saying, and I didn’t understand some of the things that you talked about simply because I’m not familiar with the terms you were using. I’m one hour into the video, and I’ll have to go back and listen a few more times and take notes so I can look things up. Still, there were a few concepts you discussed that I never heard before that were crystal clear that absolutely blew me away. First there was the trivium and the quadrivium. Never heard of them. So I looked them up for further information and waddya know, they’re the foundation of Catholic liberal education! But WOW, they’re the only way to make sense of the world. If leftists could just be shown that communication is impossible without grammar, and that two plus two always equals four we’d go a long way toward leading them to the truth. I wish I had gone to Fransiscan University. Maybe the pope could take a few courses there. I, too, was misundereducated by the Jesuits. Then there was Dr. Plato’s statement, “One test of truth is synonymy. Can you say this sentence in completely different words? If you can’t, then you probably don’t know what truth you’re asserting.” Reminds me of the comments from a video with Jonathan Pageau and Jordan Peterson. The starstruck Pageau acolytes were putting down the Thomist commenters as being stuck in structured thinking and incapable of understanding truths of a higher realm that couldn’t be put into exact words. Yeah, right. Reminds me of the source of the odor from the cow pasture behind my house. Anywho, can’t wait to listen to the rest of the video, and I’ve got a lot of homework to do. And may Our Lady bring all of you closer to herself and her Blessed Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

[@marcosmina9842]

Thank you guys for this wonderful introduction to philosophy, God bless you guys 🙏

[@peterboos930]

Love Hallow.Use each morning to start the day.

[@Dara-fk2ly]

Thank you so much Matt for helping us learn how to think again! It seems sometimes that the real "artificial intelligence" is our own as we are perpetually bombarded by a flood of information that we don't know how to process or discern. So nice to actually flex the intellectual muscle, atrophied from lack of exercise. I admit, Plato and Aristotle seem to be intimidating reads which I have always assumed would be over my head.

[@paysonmarosarioronquillo8229]

Thank you for this 💖

[@peterboos930]

An amazing conversation

[@Andrea-ky9lh]

This was a great discussion. I think it would be cool if a future episode on Pints with Aquinas was on stoicism and our faith.

[@zita-lein]

Loved it all!

[@random_person6041]

This is amazing. I wish i had better words for it.

[@peterboos930]

Wonderful to listen to such wisdom

[@bryersheridan815]

I love philosophy! It break my brain but I love philosophy this is great ! Thank you !!

[@simonluzny2487]

Profound and true. Good for thought for months.

[@alexcortez8909]

I would like to see a conversation between Dr. Plato and Jordan Peterson.

[@catholicdisciple3232]

Great interview!! Dr. Plato was fascinating. Weird side note: Dr. Plato reminds me of a male Katherine Heigl lol

[@Numenorean921]

Image being able to say you were taught philosophy by plato

[@Lerian_V]

“Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore, seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.” ― St. Augustine of Hippo

[@jovanjohn8294]

This was great to listen to.

[@hawthornetree646]

The intellectual crisis that has resulted from the mind aiming down explains the unfortunate turn toward yoga… it’s easy answers to the questions we yearn to explore, a program that make you feel satisfied at first.

[@danielosetromera2090]

This is what youtube was made for. Fantastic.

[@margarethonore7129]

Don SCOTUS rocks my sock! Just subscribed to your channel on KZbin. Wish I could afford to support you financially as well as with my prayers, but I am a personally-vowed eremite consecrated to payer and living the evangelical counsels within a poverty income. Your guest’s work on uniting the two lungs needs a book directly tackling that matter and setting forth the arguments for it - perhaps an edited collection with white-paper contributions from like-mind souls marshaling the strongest points on each objection to re-unification and allowing for cross-commments to each others’ points. In short, a collaboration of hearts and minds to FIX THE CHURCH once and for all! If we rebuild it, the Protestants will come.

[@rcabert70]

Dr. Plato mentions Peter Fehlner at 1:14:40 You can still access his conferences and more on the Franciscan Friars channel. Here's a link to some of his conferences in a playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLejh_e0-LN4xFfQDYED7Grdv8nvQ_8k1B

[@SalveRegina28384BlessedArtThou]

1:13:16 "one of my best friends, Jarred Goff..." I was like "Detroit Lions Quarterback????"

[@danharte6645]

This was amazing Matt, your channel is no doubt in my mind a top shelf arena of quality theology, philosophy and truth. I know that you know Edward Feser so can you please reach out and get him on? He's been a big influence in my dive into philosophy but he's very under exposed. Love ya Matt and on a side note, what do you think of Kevin "bloody" Wilson and his songs? I laugh out loud when I hear them and take them as a good laugh (I work in construction so hear far worse) Am I bad for laughing at his songs????

[@alineafonso2008]

Hello! I'm Aline from Brazil. I'd love to add some subtitles in portuguese to some of your videos so we can make it more accessible. May you please turn on the option to add subtitles here? God bless!

[@11antun]

I love to listen to Jakob and Matt, but in this discussion I was happy they did not speak much😊🙏

[@joelmontero9439]

Who would have thought that Matt was going to have Plato himself on his show one day... Next bring Aristotle or Cicero please 😂😂

[@domineprinceps]

And Augustine!

[@JW_______]

We have lost wisdom as a society and technological advancements make it so we can't see our way back. Lord have mercy 😥

[@nardoritardeau2291]

I watched this once through and am now rewatching it. In the beginning you guys are discussing "technopoly", the effect of technology on society, and that technology is not neutral. Something I wish had been brought up is how technology is fundamentally communistic!

[@danrocky2553]

Alex Plato speaks to Jonathan Paegeu. That would be great!

[@mikemurray2432]

This guy is awesome

[@zagorilterribile3793]

what most scares about the A Bomb is that they dropped it in Nagasaki, a Catholic town in Japan, possibly the most catholic.

[@benconnolly9883]

Brilliant!

[@michaelmicek]

26:23 "most information is garbage". It is literally true, according to information theory, that noise is information.

[@joelmontero9439]

I love this kind of shows tbh🖒

[@SevanStick]

This was a crazy watch. Americans tend to run in circles when it comes to philosophy. Totally different thinking than european.

[@radishman6563]

okay i just figured it out Dr. Plato looks like if Ryan Reynolds took up a philosopher role

[@JosePerez-is6nn]

Excellent 👍

[@danrocky2553]

Where can we get some more Alex Plato?!

[@dreseat123321]

One of the best episodes I have heard. Cool to see such awesome guys all living in Steubenville. One note for Jacob is that when he says "Being a good Catholic woman, she had seven kids..." I just have to comment that for our brothers and sisters unable to conceive and bear children within their Catholic marriage, this sort of comment can feel very exclusionary and that they cannot achieve holiness without having children. Additionally, I know several parents of kids with lots of children that are far less holy than the initial preview would indicate. Comments like this do more harm than good.

[@chefEmersonWilliams]

I agree.

[@JPGoertz]

A very interesting point made by Professor Plato: Women are more receptive, i.e. human than men... In a way "better human beings". Now that would make men... more "divine", resembling the proactive and regenerative powers of God rather than the receptive powers of Mary / woman... And Christ was both. Never thought about it that way... Philosophy is a stunner sometimes ;-) In German (Pieper) it is said: Philosophy is "Amazement" - "Staunen"...

[@socioster]

I think the Franciscan misconception comes from Franciscan priests with the wrong idea of charity. I've seen many of the kind acting more like marxist revolutionaries than priests. There is a franciscan auxiliary Priest from Chile at his 50s with long hair, tatoos, havainas and shorts is his mass, never stays in the altar during his homilies etc.... His homilies always portray Christ as a social worker, not our Saviour. He basically follows the liberation theology book to the letter. I feel really upset when I am forced to sit in his mass, and by the numbers of people there, I am not alone. I believe there is the seed of darkness in Franciscan seminaries and they might have been forming social workers, not Priests.

[@saviooliveira1220]

Yes!

[@blueyedmule]

Shooting at an assailant does NOT equal willing their death. You shoot for center mass simply because that maximizes your chances of stopping the threat.Whether or not he dies is outside the scope of your intention.