In this Rising Tide Foundation lecture, Matt Ehret introduces the two opposing solutions to the One/Many problem of governance first developed by Plato through the character of his mentor Socrates. The question in its basic terms is: IF society will break free of the cyclical trappings of collapse which characterize every attempt at human social orders historically, then how must the need for rules, law and government relate to the yearnings of each individual unit of government (ie: the citizen) to be free? Can this harmonization of freedom and law, change and no-change, duty and pleasure only occur via a crushing of the spirit of freedom in order to force the masses to adapt to the will of the elite?

If this is not ideal, then perhaps the terms of "freedom" and "pleasure" should be simply transformed into their opposites so that people will embrace or even fight to defend the shackles of their customs, rituals, and other immoral habits. How Plato treats this important subject that strikes at the very heart of universal history in the course of his dialogues and especially his republic is evaluated in this presentation.

We additionally contrast Plato's lessons and the geopolitical dynamics of Athens from the time of Solon to Plato with the disturbing "solution" currently being proposed to create a new global order of slaves following an arrogant blueprint laid out by Klaus Schwab and Yuval Harari of the World Economic Forum. This class was originally intended to encapsulate three acts (featuring Plato, St Augustine and Thomas More). However, due to the breadth and scope of the topic, it was decided to split the one intended lesson into three presentations with a deep dive into the world of St Augustine and his ideas to be developed in one week.

For the video version of this lecture refer here:

The Rising Tide Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Montreal, Canada, focused on facilitating greater bridges between east and west while also providing a service that includes geopolitical analysis, research in the arts, philosophy, sciences and history.

Also watch for free our RTF Docu-Series “Escaping Calypso’s Island: A Journey Out of Our Green Delusion.”

Rising Tide Foundation

Dedicated to the enhancement of cross-cultural understanding and dialogue between east and west.